Autumn Years Summer 2024

From fields to “stadiums” In the beginning, teams would find a level, mowed field and use it as a place to play ball. And spectators were natu rally drawn to see the games. According to author John Zinn, “People watched from their horse-drawn carriages, and grandstands didn’t come until later in the 19th century.” Permanent ball fields became a real need, especially when farmers grew weary of having their fields trampled with a baseball game, not to mention the increasing number of spectators. In 1881, one farmer published a notice threatening to prosecute anyone who trespassed to play baseball. By 1883, Passaic had become so developed that its teams played in Rutherford. Rutherford’s field, by 1902, had be come a baseball destination, with roof covered grandstands that could seat 200 and a clubhouse below. There was even a “dressing room” for visiting teams. This is still a baseball field today, known as Rutherford’s Tamblyn Field, but the stands are smaller and aluminum. The gem of Bergen County’s ball fields was the “stadium” at the Oritani Field Club in Hackensack. Built be

MEADOWLANDS MUSEUM

Rutherford Field Club grandstands, 1902.

Club in the 1952 semi-pro Bergen Coun ty Baseball League championship play offs against the Hackensack Troasts. Other ballparks existed, but details are sketchy. Ridgefield Park had a built ballfield. In May 1917, the visiting Fort Lee team not only lost to the Ridgefield Park team, 11 to 0 — but had their valu ables stolen from the dressing room. All we know of this field is that it had a dressing room. Fans Baseball was once one of the most popu lar forms of entertainment in the coun ty. It was not uncommon for a crowd of 1,500 to attend a baseball game on a holiday. In 1911, when Fred Kuhnert of Hackensack charged admission for people to see the first airplanes fly in the county at his new Aerodrome, he feared an angry paying crowd if the planes could not get off the ground. So he had baseball teams there to stage a game, just in case (see Autumn Years , Winter 2022/23, for more). The typical charge for admission to a game was 25 cents, and ladies were ad mitted free. It was thought that having

tween 1896 and 1902, the angled wood en grandstands, with a roof, could seat about 800 spectators. There was a club house for the home team and dressing rooms for the visiting team below the stands. This ballpark even had a fenced bullpen. Today, a six-story apartment building called “The Current on River” stands on the site. Allendale’s first team, the Pioneer Club, is known to have played in 1870. A later team, called the Allendale Base ball Club, constructed a wood grand stand at their field. In 1934, the town declared the old grandstand unsafe; in

1936, a new grandstand was built on the same site and is the same size and style as the original. Today, the stands are the centerpiece of Allen dale’s Grandstand Field. This is the oldest physical rem nant of early baseball in Ber gen County. We cannot leave this field without mentioning that Pittsburgh Pirates pitch er Harvey Haddix (of 1960 World Series fame) pitched for the Allendale Baseball

Allendale grandstands, 1915.

SUMMER 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS 39