The National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose annual list of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"most endangered\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" properties has played a significant role in saving hundreds of major historic sites over the years since its inception in 1995, named Hinchliffe Stadium to this year\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s roster of sites that the Trust views as demanding national attention.
Hinchliffe\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s history as a venue for major Negro Leagues play, as home of the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans during the heyday of Black baseball, as last surviving Negro Leagues stadium in the NY Metro area, and one of only three major NL arenas left in the US, made it a prime candidate for inclusion on this list.
The recent passage of national legislation declaring the Great Falls area surrounding the stadium a National Historical Park because of its associations with the founding of industry in the U.S. has thrown a spotlight on the stadium, which has been suffering from thirteen years of disuse and neglect. Efforts to resurrect the stadium and restore it to the athletic uses it was intended for have been underway since it was closed, but these efforts have taken special impetus from the efforts of the Friends, who applied to have it placed on the National Register in 2003, and who have been calling attention to its history by every means possible over the years. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This kind of national attention is just what the doctor ordered,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Brian LoPinto, president of the Friends. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"People everywhere need to know the importance of what we stand to lose if this place is not restored.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The announcement by the Trust comes on the heels of several events that may have changed the game, pointing to new partnerships for directing resources toward the desired goals of preservation and adaptive reuse. See http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100519&content_id=10198892&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb