Satchel Paige, a famous Negro League pitcher, once hurled fastballs from the mound at the ball field at East Orange’s Oval Park. And, Josh Gibson stood at the park’s home plate, waiting to unleash his mighty swing. John Henry “Pop” Lloyd, nicknamed “El Cuchara”, probably turned double plays and Oscar Charleston snagged fly balls in center field.

The park is a pretty big piece of New Jersey’s African-American history. But, you probably didn’t know that.

Only the diamond’s backstop remains now.

If you’re paying attention, there is a historical placard at the front entrance on Eaton Place that gives a brief description of when the Negro League teams played here in the 1940s.

But, it isn’t exactly an overwhelming indication of the place’s history. In fact, a true appreciation exists almost entirely in the memories of those who can recall the games.

“That was a big thrill to see these teams," said former East Orange City Councilman William Holt.

Holt, an avid ballplayer as a teen, was always on the field Saturday mornings. He and his baseball buddies would play unbothered until the Negro League teams barnstormed through town.

“They would chase out any kids who there," Holt said. “My uncle would take me to the game afterward."

East Orange Oval, circa 1940

It was nothing for Holt to see the Homestead Grays or the New York Cubans, the first African-American team, which used the field from 1941 to 1947.

The Negro League teams, Holt said, would stop at the Orange Oval to play the East Orange Baseball Club, a semi-pro white team, before heading to play the Newark Bears or the Newark Eagles at Ruppert Stadium the next day.

Many of the games were captured in stories in the Newark Star-Ledger and the East Orange Record. The black ball clubs that came included the Baltimore Elites, Birmingham Barons, Chicago Giants, Newark Eagles, New York Black Yankees, Brooklyn Brown Dodgers, Brooklyn Colored Giants and the Asheville Blues.

“It was always something that African-American families looked forward to," said Goldie Burbage, past president of the Historical Society of East Orange. “There was always excitement, because it was Negroes" who were involved.

The Negro National League teams played at the Orange Oval from 1940 to 1948, and the Negro American League teams played there for one year from 1949 to 1950, according to “The Negro Leagues in New Jersey’’ by Alfred M. Martin and Alfred T. Martin.

Holt, who went onto to play minor league ball with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said watching Negro league play was “seventh heaven," for an up and coming baseball prospect like him.

“It certainly wasn’t uncommon for black teams playing white teams, especially the community teams," said Raymond Doswell, vice president of curatorial services for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Inc., in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I know that at least here in the Midwest it was common for Negro League teams to play each other in the home parks and then go outside of the city of the main parks and play white teams, black teams, whatever to earn extra money or create double headers and make it more of an event.’’

Photo of the East Orange Oval in 1908.

The Oval was far from the only field in New Jersey the league used.

In Paterson, there’s a $500,000 federal grant to restore the façade of historic Hinchliffe Stadium, one of the few athletic venues left in the country where Negro League teams played. For some 12 years, it was home to the New York Black Yankees.

As members of the Eastern Colored League, the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants played its games from 1922 to 1932 at Old Bacharach Park, which was also the site for game two of the Negro League championship. The Newark Browns, who were part of the Negro East West League, played at Sprague Field in Bloomfield in 1932. That team also went to the Meadowbrook Oval in Newark, where the Newark Dodgers played in 1934-1935. Schools Stadium in Newark was home to the Newark Stars of the Eastern Colored League in 1926.

If we turn the clock back further, Elysian Field in Hoboken hosted games for the Cuban Giants in 1888, and Negro League teams were playing in Morris County in the late 1880s, too.

Jan Williams, the cultural and historic resources specialist in Morris County’s Office of Planning & Preservation, came across stories in the “Iron Era," a newspaper with stories of the Cuban Giants playing local teams in Boonton, Dover, Rockaway and the psychiatric staff team at Grey Stone in Morris Plains.

They were known as the Hospitilars, and they lost to the Cubans 22-14 in September 1894. This quote in the “Iron Era” describes the Cuban Giants’ dominance.

“It is rather mortifying to confess the truth under existing circumstance, but the fact can not be dodged or concealed or suppressed -- that the colored gentlemen won by a sweeping majority."

Yes, they were that good.

Negro League baseball teams used to play at the East Orange Oval in the 1940s.

And popular, too. In 1897, 3,100 people came to see them play the Orange Athletic Club at the Orange Oval.

Today, Oval Park is part of the city’s redevelopment plans, which include a multipurpose community civic center.

It’s forgotten Negro League history drew the attention of the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, a nonprofit organization in Union. The collection of stakeholders in the world of arts funding, planning and culture, came to East Orange last May for a workshop on how art can be used to shine a light on this heritage.

“For me, the story is more than just baseball," said Leonardo Vazquez, executive director of the NCCP. “It’s a story about reclaiming and resurfacing some of what was lost."

There was talk of creative historical markers, including a mural on the field house that shows Negro League players and recent heroes from the neighborhood.

Vazquez said he walked around field, stood on the mound, and could visualize Satchel Paige going into his wind-up.

He and others touring the facility “...took turns pretending to pitch from the pitcher’s mound,” Vazquez said. “It was like a ghost of a mound that something was there."

You can hear them, too. They were some of America’s greatest ballplayers.

This article is part of “Unknown New Jersey,” an ongoing series that highlights interesting and little-known stories about our past, present, and future -- all the unusual things that make our great state what is it. Got a story to pitch? Email it to local@njadvancemedia.com.

Barry Carter may be reached at bcarter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@BarryCarterSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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