On the Poor Rebirth of a Legendd
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| Hinchliffe Stadium, 2023 |
Sussex County Miners vs. New Jersey Jackals
Hinchliffe Stadium
Frontier League
Paterson, NJ
4:00 PM
Outside the Game:
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| The Great Falls with the stadium in the background |
After a deluged rainout the day before on Saturday, the New Jersey Jackals were going to have their home opener at historic Hinchliffe Stadium this Sunday, so I decided to take a trip out to see them after visiting my mother. It was an afternoon game, so I made the short drive with a couple hours to spare, arriving early enough that the newly built parking lot in left field was barely open. The attendant let me park and then work out the Website I had to go to pay for parking and show him the code and go about my day.
As I walked out, they were still doing batting practice, which could be observed through the chain-link fence in left field. I walked around and took pictures and saw they were nowhere close to being ready to open for the small crowd already there, so I took more exterior shots (along with one or two other ballpark collectors obviously there early that day), and made the short walk over to the Falls to walk around there for a bit.
I came back to find a small line forming at one of the ticket windows, which I thankfully got on early, as it would grow quite large in short order. The Jackals always seemed to have problems getting things moving at home openers at Yogi Berra Stadium, and that's when they knew what they were doing. My decision was rewarded as the line got longer and longer as they struggled to deal with the first customers, who wanted to exchange tickets from yesterday's rainout to tickets for today--not that they were much faster to new transactions for the day's game, as I discovered when I got up to the window. But ticket in hand, I eventually walked past the increasing disgruntled people on line and walked around until it was time for the gates to open.
After the game, I walked right to my car in the lot, pulled out with no issues, and was quickly on my way to route 80 and my mom's house to drop off the car and grab a Lyft back to my apartment.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Hinchliffe Stadium |
Hinchliffe Stadium is one of the last remaining Negro League ballparks that was still standing. It, like most of Paterson, had fallen into decrepitude over the decades, just avoiding demolition long enough to get federal grant money to renovate it. They also somehow lured away the indie-league New Jersey Jackals from their only home at Yogi Berra Stadium to start this year's contest at the renovated venue.
Hinchliffe was always a somewhat wonky venue for baseball, being located in a classic amphitheater, with a track running around the perimeter. The original layout had the infield nestled inside the track, facing away from the grandstands, with the outfield wall facing towards the open end of the stands. They changed that sometime in the 90s to angle it towards the stands, and for some reason, they decided to keep that layout for the new renovations. Which I consider a mistake for a ton of reasons. Firstly, the dimensions (stated as 320-385-327) were too small, as evidenced by the numbers of homers that flew out of the park. Also, it was awkward. They have to cover parts of the track with turf overlays in the outfield, creating a seam, and they had to artificially restrict the foul ground on the first base line with temporary fencing, behind which they put on-field tables and two giant blow-up attractions for kids--which, by the way, completely obstructs the view from the first-base seats, which is probably okay as they are about a quarter-mile from the field anyway.
They built a new building in what is now center field which effectively block the view of the Falls, which was one of the big selling points of the park. That building (rumored to eventually be a team store and museum) was just gutted out with nothing inside at the home opener. There were just one bank of overpriced concessions ready, as well, with an extremely limited selection, which was more forgivable (especially with the food truck promotion at the game that day). Outside of a few original stadium signs outside of right field and left field and the original historic marker, there was nothing about the park's history at all.
They also had to put up temporary foul ball netting, and some of those supports are in fair territory in the outfield, but at least thankfully padded to prevent outfielder homicides. Every last one of these things could have been corrected by going with the field's original orientation, and I would be very interested to know why they chose this mess.
There is an average scoreboard out in left center field, a party area in left, and on-field tables and party area in the voluminous area behind first. All of the seats except the on-field ones are uncushioned bleachers, which were only bearable with portable cushions. The view out to downtown Paterson was still available from right field, at least.
Jack the Jackal made the trip, always followed around by a gaggle of kids. The mayor and Yankee great Willie Randolph were there for the ceremonial first pitches. There weren't many activities until the later innings, but that was less of an issue. There was a good crowd, but given the grumblings already from their suburban fan base, one wonders how long they are going to stomach $15 each game for parking in crime-ridden Paterson. Time will tell, and this historic field deserves so much better.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Overpriced hot dog and Gatorade |
I went in as soon as the gate opened, and after an announcement that no bags were going to be allowed and then seeing a sea of people who, in fact, had bags, they did an impromptu bag check, and eventually I was into the park. (They did not give out the seat cushion giveaway from the day before, nor did they wear the Negro League throwback jerseys originally scheduled for this game.)
I took my time doing my walk-arounds, most of it in complete amazement at the layout of the park. Nothing was open yet except for the one concession, where I grabbed an over-priced hot dog, Gatorade, and pretzel. I eventually settled into my seat behind home plate (though it was pretty much open seating for the first game). I was jarred by the fake first-base line that they had put in ended in another screen which made the seats right behind home plate have a partially obstructed view of home plate, which was just nuts.
The game had a decent crowd. There was a man teaching his kids the rules of the game as it progressed, which always warms my heart. After overhearing me explaining a play to a group behind me earlier, a group in front of me asked me about the teams, and I had to explain the whole concept of independent baseball to them. I swear to god, as soon as you have a scorebook in your head, people assume you know everything. They were right in this case, but still.
After the first four or so innings baking in the heat, I retreated to a seat in right field, which had the benefit of being in the shade and having an unobstructed view of the field due to the lack of netting. It was definitely the preferable of the two seats, which you don't often say about home plate seats right behind the plate. There was a group of loud locals seating nearby who were drinking beers and going on about local politics as you might expect to see at a local high-school football game.
The Game:
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| The first pitch in the game between the Sussex County Miners and the New Jersey Jackals. |
This game was house money for ownership, who happened to own both of these Frontier-league franchises. The Jackals were doing better so far in the nascent season, with Miners bringing up the rear of the league. A pitcher's duel this would not be.
As was indicated by the fact that the first batter for the Miners in the newly reopened park took one dead center for a homer. A strikeout later, a batter went yard to left, very accurately setting the tone for the game and staking the Miners to an early 2-0 lead. New Jersey started the game with a hit batsman, but their second batter got in on the fun, christening right field with its first home run. A two-out rally followed with a single, a catcher's interference, an error by the third baseman, and a single to bring in two runs before a strikeout ended the batting-around with a 4-2 home lead. Sussex County went in order in the second, while the Jackals only managed a walk in their half of the frame. The Miners only managed a two-out single in the top of the third, and he was promptly picked off first. New Jersey limped along in the bottom of the inning, stranding two walks with two outs.
A leadoff walk went for naught for Sussex County in the fourth, but the Jackals ended the intermission on scoring. A leadoff double was picked off, but a one-out walk was driven in by another homer to left, followed one out later by yet another homer to left, leaving the Jackals with a commanding 7-2 lead. The Miners got one back with another leadoff homer to left in the fifth, and New Jersey got that back with another homer to center, leaving the score 8-3 for those trying to keep up, presumably while dodging home run balls. Sussex County went back to more conventional scoring in the top of the sixth, with a leadoff double moved over on a wild pitch and scoring on a single, to close the score to 8-4. The Jackals just hit another home to left to start the sixth and then stranded a single and hit batsman to extended their lead back to 9-4.
The Miners went quietly in order in the seventh, and NJ only managed a single in their half. After a two-out walk for Sussex County in the top of the eighth, another homer to left brought in two to close the lead to 9-6. The Jackals got it back with a two-out homer to right to get the score up to 10-6. And there it stayed as the Miners went in order, sealing the Jackals home opener win.
The Scorecard:
I used the BBWAA scorecard, as there was nothing on sale to given away at the park, and even when they did have their store up and running last year, they didn't have a scorecard.
One word: homers. There were nine in the game--five to left, two to center, and two to right. The wacky field layout definitely had an impact, as well as raising some legitimate questions about the stated field dimensions. Even indie-ball pitching isn't bad enough for hitters to take them yard nine times without some ballpark help. The other impact was the copious foul territory, leading to a play in the bottom of the second where the left fielder ran somewhere close to a mile to catch a foul ball for an out.
And then the other plays of note. I saw my first clock violation ball on a pitcher in the top of the third. In the bottom of the fifth, there was a sharp grounder to first, fielded by the first baseman who took it to the bag for the put-out, and both teams left the field. Except the umpires protested that the ball was foul, and made both teams return to the field to continue play (which eventually ended in a strikeout). In the top of the sixth, there was an infield single that I felt needed the clarification that it nearly murdered the pitcher, bouncing solidly off of him. There was also a rare catcher's interference in the bottom of the first, and one of the Miners got a golden sombrero.
But seriously: nine home runs.
The Accommodations:
Home, sweet Jersey City
