Paterson

On the Poor Rebirth of a Legend

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Hinchliffe Stadium, 2023

Sunday, May 21, 2023
Sussex County Miners vs. New Jersey Jackals
Hinchliffe Stadium
Frontier League
Paterson, NJ
4:00 PM  

Outside the Game:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Sussex County Miners and New Jersey Jackals on 5/21/23. The Jackals won, 10-6.

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

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

Stand-Alone Trip

Upper Montclair

On… The Jackals

Yogi Berra Stadium, 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Pittsfield Colonials vs. New Jersey Jackals

Yogi Berra Stadium

Can-Am League

Upper Montclair, New Jersey

6:45 PM

Outside of the Game:
I had been home from Japan for nearly a month, I didn’t have another ticket purchased for a game until August, and I was getting itchy for baseball. I also realized that while I had to gone to see every pro team in Japan, I had not yet seen every team in my state. So I started doing research to get together every active professional team in New Jersey.

I wasn’t feeling too ambitious this particular weekend, so I decided to go see the New Jersey Jackals in nearby Upper Montclair, New Jersey. I had visited them a couple of times years ago when they first opened their doors, but I hadn’t been back since I started my baseball trips.

The game was at 6:35 PM, so I planned to get there about two hours early to visit the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, which was located behind home plate and had just undergone a renovation of its own. It was a quick drive from Hoboken in the middle Saturday afternoon, but once I got there, I was surprised by a game already in progress.

Some quick inquiries later, I discovered that because of a rainout on Friday the night before, they were playing a double-header today, and the first game was the one currently underway. Not wanting to try and keep track of a game half over, I bought my ticket for the double-header and kept to the plan to go visit the museum before going in for the second game.

The Yogi Berra Museum had just re-opened this summer after renovations over the winter. A busload of tourists was visiting, packing the place beyond what I would assume its normal pre-game crowd to be. I had been in the museum years ago when I visited the Jackals last, and the place really had gotten quite a facelift. A new theater showed a continuous loop about Yankee Stadium, and the theater itself was dressed in stadium bunting with World Series pennants from all the times Yogi participated, as well as a faux scoreboard. The main exhibits about Yogi’s life before, during, and after his baseball career were now in a hall also designed to resemble the old Yankee Stadium. In the back of the museum remained the entrance to the “luxury box” that looks over the right field of the park. After visiting for a while, it was time to go to the second game, so I made my way outside and down into the stadium.

Somewhere, Gollum is salivating.

After the game, I didn’t stick around for the fireworks display, so I made my way out as the winners for the tennis ball toss were announced. As I weaved my way out to the main roads, the fireworks rocked the night sky behind me. It was early enough that traffic into the City wasn’t that bad, and I had a quick and uneventful ride back to Hoboken.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Yogi Berra Stadium

Yogi Berra Stadium is an A-AA level park located in the back of the Montclair State University campus, affiliated with the independent Can-Am League. The entrance, right next door to the Yogi Berra Museum, is above the stadium proper, and visitors have to climb down one set of stairs to get to the promenade that wraps around the top of the seating bowl, and then down one or two more flights of stairs to get to their seats, depending how close they are sitting to the field.

The various concessions, merchandise stores, and party areas all line the main promenade. As with many low minors stadiums, there are no outfield bleachers, but there is bleacher seating along the baselines, and a combo kids/picnic area out in right field that is a popular running-around destination during the game.

While the afternoon make-up game was sparsely populated at best, the regularly scheduled evening game was about 2/3rds filled to capacity with families looking for some cheap summer fun and fireworks. They were as into the game as possible, as action bereft as it was. The Jackals ran the regular minor-league events between innings, with the dance contests, birthday announcements, bat spin races, and various and sundry events and abuse involving the mascot, the unimaginatively named Jack the Jackal.

Jack...al

Two after-game events were a tennis ball toss, where you buy a numbered tennis ball for $1 and then try to throw the ball from the stands into various hula hoops labeled with different prizes on the field, with the best prizes the furthest from the stands. If your ball stays in the hoop, you win the prize. After that was the obligatory weekend fireworks display that is always a big hit with families for some reason.

The stadium MC had an annoying habit of doing a dramatic pause before saying the name of the team, which prompted the title for this entry. It was clearly on purpose, and I seem to remember them doing this years ago as well, and frankly, it was still just as annoying. A representative example was along the lines of, “And after the game, be sure to stay in your seats for our fireworks spectacular, brought to you by… the Jackals.”

I visited on a special night, as the Jackals were retiring the number of one of their players in a modest ceremony between the games. After the marketing folks set up a podium and several folding chairs, the MC introduced several Jackals luminaries, both present and past. The Jackals had already retired two numbers: the stadium namesake Yogi Berra and another former player, who was also in attendance.

The event was quite interesting in giving the scope of the indie ball experience. Six years is not what you’d call a long career in the majors, but it was one of the longest on the Jackals, where anyone good enough eventually gets another shot back at the majors or gives up and has to get a “real” job out of frustration or necessity, and it takes an exact certain level of sort-of good to have a longish career in the indie leagues. And Zack Smithlin was just that sort-of good. He ended up on the Jackals after getting cut loose by the Cardinals system, and his excellent performance on the Jackals got him another invite to the Padres camp, where he was once again unable to figure out major-league level pitching, even in the minors.

Mr. Jackal

After testimonials from former and current managers and players, the man of the hour laid out his history in very plain, real terms, but clearly loved what he did for so long, even if it meant that he was still struggling to make his rent this month. It was a very genuine thing, and more “Bull Durham” than “Bull Durham” ever was. His retired number was revealed from under a tarp on the left field wall, and the grass on both baselines had his name and number spray painted on for the occasion.

At the Game with Oogie:

Indie scoring

Leaving my fate to the Montclair student in the ticket booth, she put me in a seat in the first row behind the Jackals dugout. This left me at front-row center for many of the between-inning minor-league games that usually happen in front of the home dugout or on the top of said dugout. The home dugout at Yogi Berra Field is untraditionally on the third base side, and why becomes readily apparent on hazy days such as this, as the third-base dugout is mercifully out of the sun and under the protection of some shade trees behind the promenade, while the first base dugout might as well be directly on the surface of the sun.

There were a group of four or five teenage boys sitting in my row with an unofficial upgrade who got bounced two or three times when the actual seat-holders showed up. Two or three families were arrayed around me, including a grandpa with his grandchildren sitting right behind me. He spent most of the game talking to his grandkids about the game and baseball in general, or prompting his wife to help him remember something.

The Game:

First pitch, Patriots vs. Jackals

Things were weird for this one from the start. Since this had become a double-header, it used a common minor-league rule for double-headers: both games would only be seven innings. This makes sense in the minors when you don’t want to over-tax developing talent, and in the indie leagues, where the rosters just aren’t extensive enough to support swapping out most of the players in a late second game.

Although I believe heartily that the pace of modern baseball has slowed down far too much, I’ve never understood people who complain about individual games going too long. While there has been some times on my trips where time constraints and travel situations make me hope a game doesn’t last five hours, nearly every long game that I’ve been to has been worth every last second I’ve invested in it.

I mention this because even considering that this was only a seven-inning game, it went by in a blink. It was about 1:45 start to finish, and even if it had gone regulation, it would likely have been under two hours. Perhaps both teams were completely tuckered out after playing the makeup game in a blazing afternoon with next to no one in the stands; the offences were both anemic.

While the Colonials went down in order in the first and managed only a weak, two-out single in the second, the Jackals showed some early life. The leadoff batter got plunked on the first pitch and went to third on a one-out single. A two-out walk loaded the bases, but a weak ground-out to second ended the opportunity. A one-out single and walk in the second got two on the basepaths, but two more outs quickly followed. The Colonials had their best opportunity in the third when a two-out walk and a blown pick-off throw got a runner to third before a grounder to short closed the inning.

After that, the Colonials went in order for the rest of the game. And the Jackals didn’t manage much better against the Colonial’s new pitcher who came in for the bottom of the third. The bottom of the third started with a walk, and then the Jackals, too, went in order until the bottom of the sixth. Perhaps it was because it was the second time through the order, but the Jackals seemed to finally solve the Pittsfield pitcher. A hard single to left had a baserunner making only a brief stop before he was blasted home by a line-drive homer to right-center, finally scoring some runs. The next two outs were hard-hit flies that barely stayed in the park, before a strikeout ended it.

The Jackals “won” the nightcap, 2-0.

The Scorecard:

Patriots vs. Jackals, 07/30/11. Jackals win, 2-0. 

The Jackals don’t sell a scorecard as part of their $2 program, or even at all anymore, although they did many moons ago when I first went to the park. On a side note, however, they do sell a scorecard book in their team store, which is some kind of first. As I’m more and more noticing, there is the dedicated batch of scorekeepers in the handicapped seating at independent parks, not because they needed the seats, but because they offer the most felicitous place to keep score. Most of them come with their own devices, so maybe selling scorecards isn’t a going concern anymore at these parks. It wouldn’t surprise me.

At any rate, as per usual these days, I had the Eephus League Official Scorebook with me, and since the Can-Am uses the DH, I was feeling on comfortable ground, space-wise.

As we’ve seen, I needn’t have worried. The 7-inning pitcher’s fest went by at a sprint, and the only scorekeeping of note happened in the bottom of the fifth. It seems that the Jackals started to worry about wasting the pitching performance of their starter and were going to do anything to jump-start their own lagging offense. They started the inning with two attempts at bunt singles, which I’ve never seen before. Both were failures: the first was fielded cleanly by the third baseman and the second was picked awkwardly by the first baseman, who had to make a diving tag to get the runner. They were appended “b” and “bt” respectively in the scorecard.

The Accommodations:
Just Hoboken

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2011 Stand-Alone Trip