Councilwoman determined to get Yankees, Mets, or Sox minor league team to Hoboken

Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason, a former mayoral candidate, is very keen on getting a minor league baseball stadium built in the northwest corner of the city where the first organized baseball game is said to have been played in 1846. In fact, she presented a full proposal from an architectural firm to the Reporter staff this past Wednesday. She said she forsees Hoboken even fighting with other towns for a particular team.
Mason has already done research on minor league teams that want to move (and mentioned that the Pawtucket Red Sox, a Rhode Island-based affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, may be looking for a new home). She says there is room for a Double-A stadium in the city’s industrial northwest area. She’s looking at the stadium as an anchor for an entire neighborhood that could include boutique hotels, the relocated Hoboken Historical Museum, and a small convention center.
Right now, the Rockefeller Group is buying properties in the area and hoping to build commerical and residential development, but Mason said that if the city wants her plan — which she personally paid an architect to design — they can push a developer to meet their goals.
Double-A baseball is two steps below major league ball. Players hoping to make it to the big league will often move up through single A, double A, and AAA first. When major league players are nearly recovered from injuries, they will often warm up with a triple A team before returning.
The first organized baseball game was played in the city’s Elysian fields on the eastern waterfront.
Mason believes strongly in her proposal for 24 acres of the city’s northwest, and says she believes the city can battle with other towns to lure a major affiliate.
According to a Hoboken baseball website, “On 19 June 1846, the first officially recorded, organized baseball match was played under Alexander Joy Cartwright’s rules on Hoboken’s Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23-1. Cartwright umpired.”.
For much more on this story, including all the details of Mason’s proposal and other officials’ reactions to it, see this Sunday’s print editon of the Hoboken Reporter, or check it out on-line at www.hudsonreporter.com starting Sunday. To comment, add your comment below!