A baseball landmark in Paterson is being brought back to life.

Hinchliffe Stadium was a home field for Black baseball players excluded from the Major Leagues in the 1930s and 1940s. But for the last 25 years, the stadium has been nearly forgotten.

“Think about all the history that happened here. This is hallowed – this is sacred ground,” says Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh. “This is the real Field of Dreams.”

Restoration and renovation work on Hinchcliffe Stadium is nearly complete, as the stadium prepares to welcome a new home team in April.

“Larry Doby, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Page – they all played here before they could play in Major League Baseball,” Sayegh says.

Hinchliffe first opened 90 years ago and hosted the Negro League World Series in 1933. It is one of only two surviving stadiums in the country that was home to Black baseball players when only white players were allowed to play in the MLB.

But the stadium was abandoned and left to decay. It is located right next to School No. 5.

“You’ve had generations of students who had to peer outside those windows and see decay and decline and all this rubble,” Sayegh says.

But the area now is being revitalized through a multi-year, multimillion-dollar project that the mayor says is 80% complete.

“That's senior citizen affordable housing, that's the parking garage, that's a museum,” Sayegh says.

He says there are now talks with the MLB to host an All-Star Game or the Field of Dreams game to return baseball glory to Hinchliffe stadium.

“We didn't think this would ever happen, we fought for this,” Sayegh says. “We're not limiting ourselves here. Sky's the limit for this field.”

The New Jersey Jackals will call Hinchliffe Stadium home. Opening day is tentatively set for April 14, 2023.