The Birthplace of Baseball
Baseball season has begun and people are focusing on the “great American pastime.” It’s a little early to predict who will win the Pennants and the World Series, but here in the Hoboken/Jersey City area, people are thinking about another aspect of baseball.
Cooperstown is the location of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It is located there because of a legend that nobody really believes anymore. Stephen Carlton Clark founded the Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown because a man named Abner Graves claimed the first baseball diamond had been put there in a cow pasture by his friend Abner Doubleday. True baseball historians totally discount this story today.
Nope! If you look on 11th Street, right here in Hoboken, you’ll discover a plaque showing the location where the first game was played under modern rules. It was between the New York Knickerbockers and the New York Nine, at Elysian Fields, on June 19, 1846. Of course, Cincinnati, Ohio is the location of the first professional baseball team. The rest, as they say, is history.
Hoboken is being considered for the locale of a World Baseball Hall of Fame, which would honor baseball players from around the world, not just those on teams in America. The actual spot hasn’t been chosen yet. As a matter of fact, the city’s administration hasn’t officially committed to the idea yet. It is being discussed, however, and the possibility looks good.
The president of the World Baseball Hall of Fame group, which, as yet, doesn’t have an official headquarters, is Bruce Prentice. He is in contact with Mayor Dawn Zimmer about the possible location of the monument here in Hoboken. He doesn’t plan to compete with the Cooperstown Hall. This presents a wider scope. Of the first group of nominees for induction, only three will be from American teams. (We’ll let those names be a surprise.)
The plans, since they’re still in the feasibility stage are undefined at present. An outdoor memorial in a park or some other open air setting seems to be the plan, rather than a “bricks & mortar” indoor museum. It’s exciting to know that Hoboken will be recognized on an international basis as the birthplace of baseball. It’s just one more reason to love living here.
Who do you think will take the Series this year?
Edward