Montclair Students Keep Negro Leagues History Alive at Hinchliffe Stadium

Edward Gonzalez grew up playing baseball in Paterson and once took the field at Hinchliffe Stadium, without knowing much about the ballpark's history.

Now he's the one telling it.

Much of that story belongs to Larry Doby, the Paterson legend who broke the American League's color barrier and went on to the Hall of Fame.

A sophomore History major at Montclair State University, Gonzalez is an intern at the Charles J. Muth Museum of Hinchliffe Stadium. He shows visitors Doby's yearbook from Eastside High School, where Doby starred in four sports, and walks them through what came next. Doby played for the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues, then joined the Cleveland Indians in 1947, three months after Jackie Robinson integrated the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers. A year later, Doby hit the first World Series home run by a Black player.

"I like seeing our visitors' faces when I give them a new piece of information they didn't know," Gonzalez says.

History Comes Alive

The museum covers Hinchliffe Stadium, one of only two Negro League stadiums still standing, and Paterson's sports culture. In 2026, the museum was named one of USA Today's 10 Best New Museums.

The museum's educational partnership with Montclair brings students into hands-on work in public history, museum operations, archival practice and storytelling, part of the University's broader commitment to Paterson.

For Gonzalez, the work changes with the calendar. In summer, he welcomes baseball fans. Once school is in session, he and other student interns introduce Paterson schoolchildren to the stadium and its history. This fall, the museum is also hosting public programs, including one on Oct. 18 on significant moments in New Jersey baseball history.

The museum draws an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 visitors a year, says Director Jessica Cameron Bush. A former Passaic County museum curator who helped plan Hinchliffe Stadium's restoration, Bush also teaches Montclair courses in public history and museum exhibits.

Students drawn to that work can find other sports-related internships. On campus, the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center is dedicated to the life and legacy of Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, who called Montclair home. Its exhibitions and educational programs use baseball to explore history, culture, science and society.

Discovering the Work Behind the History

At Hinchliffe, not all the student work happens in front of visitors.

Ella Sumners, a junior double-majoring in History and Psychology, focuses on archival work. Trained in archival software and in handling fragile materials, she catalogs artifacts, updates display cases and maintains the museum's database.

When she began studying History at Montclair, Sumners thought her options were narrow. Conversations with professors, including Bush, showed her that a History degree could lead to museums and archives.

She is drawn most to the artifacts, including baseball mitts modeled on those used by the 1947 Cleveland Indians, the team Doby joined, and authentic Negro Leagues jerseys.

"I think they're the most intriguing to me, and I get to contextualize the story of the Negro Leagues around them, which is very, very cool," she says.

The work has also changed how she sees a museum's relationship to its community.

"For me, it's more about being humble and learning from this experience," she says. "As much as we are here to educate, we're also here to learn from visitors, because oftentimes they can offer us insight into the history that we're trying to portray."

Students as Storytellers

Some students take that exchange further, adding to the historical record as they help preserve it.

College of Communication and Media professors Tom Franklin and Kelly Whiteside worked with students on an oral history project recording the memories of people who knew Hinchliffe Stadium and mid-century Paterson firsthand.

"Everyone from Paterson has a Hinchliffe story," Franklin says. "We wanted to interview those people while they're still alive and capture them for the museum's archives."

Associate producers on "The Pride of Paterson: An Oral History of Hinchliffe Stadium," supported by a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, included Montclair graduates Izzy Conklin, Dani Mazariegos, Gloria Perez and Ryan Tullio.

A Museum Built on Giving Back

The student work is made possible by a $5 million gift from Charles "Chuck" Muth ’77 and his wife, Laura. Muth, a Paterson native, has called the revitalization a way to give back to the city that shaped him.

Gonzalez has watched Hinchliffe's transformation and the changes around the Great Falls.

"I can see where Paterson is going with this," he says. "I can see the potential."

He also sees Muth in that arc.

"I'm still young, and me knowing I want to give back to the community, that says a lot," he says. "Charles J. Muth, a Paterson native – he came back, he donated money for this to happen. And we have people coming from across the U.S., around the world, to see the museum. So we could say Charles did something good for the world."

Gonzalez plans to do the same in a Paterson classroom.

"When I have students, and they tell me, 'Hey, my favorite teacher was Mr. Gonzalez' – because everybody has their favorite teacher – and then they end up becoming something great, I just know I did something good for the world," he says. "At the end of the day, teachers are the ones teaching presidents, doctors, other teachers. They're the backbone."

For now, he's giving back at Hinchliffe.

"I'm so happy working for the museum, helping people come see what Charles Muth helped create. I'm following in his footsteps, and I love it."