With the amount of exposure generated by the 2021 Field of Dreams game between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, it’s no surprise that another installment of the game is already set for the cornfields of Iowa next season as well. However, what if the game could move to other venues, including one that could help showcase the history of the Negro Leagues?
That was the thought of MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds, who mentioned the idea of playing a Field of Dreams game at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, N.J., shortly after the conclusion of the 2021 Field of Dreams contest. The game would take on extra historic significance as Hinchliffe is one of the few remaining Negro League stadiums in the United States.
Here’s why Harold Reynolds and plenty of others believe a Field of Dreams game should be played in a former Negro League stadium.
The timing could be right for MLB to bring the Field of Dreams to Hinchliffe Stadium, a 10,000-seat stadium which hosted games featuring the New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans, and Newark Eagles from 1933-45. Hinchliffe, however, fell into massive disrepair in recent decades, with reports of trees growing through where the grandstands once stood.
Those days, however, are in the rearview mirror. After undergoing a $94 million stadium renovation that is part of a master plan to include a parking structure, apartments, and a restaurant that will feature exhibits about the ballpark’s legacy and place in Negro Leagues history, Hinchliffe will be ready for the spotlight, even the brightest ones of Major League Baseball should Reynolds get his wish of a regular-season game being played there.
There would still be plenty of hurdles to overcome for an actual game to be played there. However, with the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds already scheduled to return to the Field of Dreams in Iowa in 2022, MLB is showing it is ready to embrace its game at different venues. With the Negro Leagues now officially recognized as part of MLB’s history, it could also be another chance for MLB to embrace that part of its past as well.
Paterson mayor Andre Sayegh has said he is hoping that the stadium could host an MLB game in 2023, potentially turning the reincarnation of Hinchliffe Stadium into a true Field of Dreams.