A historic stadium in northern New Jersey where several black professional baseball teams once played has been granted national historic landmark status.

Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (Facebook)
Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (Facebook)
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The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday that Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson has been recognized as "an exceptional example of a Negro league baseball stadium in 20th-century segregated America."

The badly decaying structure was once the home of the New York Black Yankees, the New York Cubans and other teams. Eleven members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame played at Hinchliffe Stadium, including Larry Doby, who went to high school in Paterson.

The stadium is steps from Paterson's Great Falls, which was granted national historic landmark status in 2011.

The Friends of Hinchliffe Stadium organization says it was once a Depression Era haven for working-class kids.

 

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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