No Minor Accomplishment: The Revival of New Jersey Professional Baseball

Chapter 3: Baseball Returns to New Jersey in 1994

T he two men who brought professional baseball back to New Jersey were as different as night and day. One lived in the city, the other in the country. One was a slick, hard-driving Trenton politician who could work a room with the best of them. The other was a low-keyed businessman who commuted to New York City every day from his home in rural Sussex County. Bob Prunetti of Trenton and Rob Hilliard of Vernon shared the dream of bringing minor-league baseball to their respective areas of New Jersey. Their methods differed but their goals and results were the same, resulting in brand new ballparks and minor-league baseball in Trenton and Frankford Township for the 1994 baseball season. 39 3 Baseball Returns to New Jersey in 1994 The entrance to Skylands Park, Augusta, Sussex County, which was built to resemble a barn. Photograph by Bob Golon, 2005. In 2007, fourteen years after professional baseball returned to the state, it is hard to believe that as recently as 1993, New Jersey baseball fans experienced nothing but rumors, broken promises, and failed attempts to bring the game back. New Jersey professional sports experienced a rebirth in the 1970s and 1980s, and the efforts were strictly major league. It started in the 1970s, when the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority convinced the New York Giants of the National Football League to play in the new Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford . The 76,500-seat Giants Stadium opened in 1976, and it became an immediate hit among football fans. Eight years later, oilman Leon Hess, owner of the NFL’s New York Jets, abandoned Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, and joined the Giants as tenants in Giants Stadium, making New Jersey the professional football capital of the Northeast. In the late 1970s, Giants Stadium became the focal point of the short-lived North American Soccer League, as well. The league’s flagship team, the New York Cosmos, filled the stadium to capacity a number of times, a rarity for soccer in the United States. Heartened by their success, the Sports and Exposition Authority sought approval for and built a 20,000seat indoor arena at the Meadowlands, immediately attracting both the National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets and the National Hockey League’s Colorado Rockies (later renamed the New Jersey Devils ) to play in it. New Jersey became a hot sporting commodity, but there was still no professional baseball being played in the Garden State. Governor Thomas Kean and the Sports and Exposition Authority looked across the Hudson River and spotted what they thought might be a willing partner to fill the baseball void. The New York Yankees continually grumbled about needing a new home, and the Meadowlands looked enticing. Moving a storied franchise like the Yankees to New Jersey could be discussed only then because at that time, they were not the most popular team in New York City. In the mid-1980s, the New York Mets of Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and their other colorful teammates dominated the New York baseball headlines. The Mets won the World Series in 1986 and drew big, enthusiastic crowds to Shea Stadium. Meanwhile, the once-mighty Yankees fell upon some hard times at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Questionable player deals and numerous managerial changes taxed the patience of even the most dedicated Yankees fans, and empty seats became a common sight at Yankee Stadium. The front office attributed the lack of attendance to the Bronx neighborhood itself. People didn’t feel safe coming to the 40 No Minor Accomplishment Bronx, claimed Yankees executives, and even those who did were being turned off by the constant traffic delays due to the outdated highways leading to and from Yankee Stadium. The Yankees told anyone who would listen that they were in need of a new ballpark and would consider alternative locations in the New York City area if a deal could be struck. New Jersey governor Kean, with the backing of the Sports and Exposition Authority and state business and labor leaders, placed a $185 million stadium bond issue on the ballot in 1987. If the bond issue passed, the state would have the funding to build a 45,000-seat baseball stadium in Lyndhurst, adjacent to the Meadowlands complex. A commitment for a team to relocate to the new stadium had...