A baseball landmark in Passaic County tells the story of how sports helped integrate America.

Hinchliffe Stadium is Paterson’s very own real-life "field of dreams."

News 12 caught up with Paterson mayor and historian Andre Sayegh to learn the history of this historic landmark.

"All of the players that are featured in the museum ultimately made it to the baseball hall of fame because Major League Baseball knew that these baseball players were wronged," he says.

Named after the mayor at the time, John Hinchliffe, Hinchliffe Stadium opened its gates in 1932 during the Great Depression.

"It was a low moment for America, so they wanted something for people to do as far as recreation is concerned," says Sayegh.

Black players were excluded from playing in Major League Baseball, and in 1920 Negro League baseball was founded in Kansas City.

"The whites at that time they would dismiss the Negro Leagues as saying it was not organized baseball. They were adamant, this is organized baseball, we’re playing the same game as you are," says Sayegh.

By 1933, the stadium in Paterson became home to three Negro League baseball teams: the New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans and the Newark Eagles, forever etching the stadium in American history.

"They could play here and not worry about people removing them from the field," says Sayegh.

Greats, like Paterson native Larry Doby, who integrated the American League in 1947, played on this very field. He was the fist player to go from the Negro League to the majors.

"Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, that’s the National League. Larry Doby broke the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians at that time on July 5, 1947. They never faced each other; they were different leagues but they both faced the same level of racism. When Jackie Robinson entered the big leagues, he was 28 years old, but he also had experience playing in the minor leagues with white players. When he, Larry Doby got the call, he was playing with an all-Black team in Newark"

The stadium closed its gates in 1997 and remained closed until its renaissance on May 19, 2023. Hinchliffe Stadium is one of two remaining Negro League stadiums in the country that tells the story of how a national pastime became the great equalizer.