2. Hoboken was the birthplace of baseball (and the forward pass in football)
While walking along Washington Street, you may notice a plaque in the middle of an intersection that reads, “On June 19, 1846, the first match game of baseball was played here on the Elysian Fields between the Knickerbockers and the New Yorks. It is generally conceded that until this time, the game was not seriously regarded.” The four corners of Washington Street and 10th and 11th Streets also have the four bases representing the former Elysian Fields. Though the early history of baseball is hotly debated, historians on the whole agree that Hoboken was indeed the birthplace of baseball. Additionally, the first forward pass in football was thrown in Hoboken at Elysian Fields, and the first Thanksgiving football game was hosted there.
The roots of baseball stem from Manhattan when teams would play a rudimentary version of the ball game. Given the city’s rapid industrialization, many feared the game would cause property damage. Colonel John Stevens, hoping to build up Hoboken, invited some teams to play at Elysian Fields. Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr. founded the New York Knickerbockers, consisting primarily of middle-class men, and he helped put together an official lineup of games at Elysian Fields against teams including the New York Nine. The first officially recognized baseball game took place in Hoboken on June 19, 1846, after which Cartwright developed standardized rules including separating bases by 90 feet and establishing a nine-inning limit. Foul lines were also added, as well as strikes for pitches that landed in the strike zone. By 1858, a whopping 60 teams were playing under the new rule set.