Yearly Archives: 2024

Clearing The Bases – A Veteran Sportswriter On The National Pastime

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Jim Kaplan, a former sportswriter and book reviewer for the Minneapolis Star. former Sports Illustrated baseball writer and author of many baseball books wrote “Clearing The Bases – A Veteran Sportswriter On The National Pastime” in 2016. In it, he provided his “latest” takes on the game. In Chapter Nine, Talking Baseball, he reminisced about his enjoyment Of Hot Stove baseball. One of the events he highlighted was a SABR Day meeting of the Smoky Joe Wood Chapter that he attended. What I found most interesting is his recollection of meeting Marjorie Adams and take on Doc Adams. At meeting’s … Continue reading →

Baseball’s History Rewritten

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In 2016, not long after the vote on the 2016 Pre-integration Era Ballot, with Doc Adams receiving 10 of the 12 needed votes for election, the re-discovery of his handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” was announced. When this rare, seminal document sold at auction for $3.26 million, stories were published everywhere (most of them derivatives of Andrew Dalton’s AP story). It was hoped that his concluding statement would prove prophetic and that Doc Adams’ rediscovered, handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” would turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for this year’s MLB Winter Meetings. The Special Early Baseball … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Base Ball Biography (Baseball Pioneer)

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Daniel came to New York in 1839, set-up his medical practice and began playing base ball, although it is known he was playing some form of “bat and ball” as early as 1832 (See, The Early Years) at his home in New Hampshire, probably the Massachusetts game or Town Ball.  “I was always interested in athletics, while in college and afterward and soon after coming to New York, I began to play base ball….”¹ The New York game was played by young lawyers, doctors, merchants, bank clerks and others who could leave New York twice a week at 3:30 pm. … Continue reading →

2022 Michigan Vintage Base Ball Festival Remembers Marjorie Adams

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The 2022 Michigan Vintage Base Ball Festival was held June 24-26 in Frankenmuth, MI. As usual, it was successful festival and a grand time was had by all. The Cornhuskers Base Ball Club of Canton successfully defended the Michigan State Cup twice defeating the Bear Clan BBC of Flat Rock, MI and Walker Tavern Wheels of Brooklyn, MI. The following Kings were “crowned”: King of Clubs – Captain’s Match Most Valuable Ballist: Mark Pisanello, The Crossing Rails BBC of Alliance, OH King of Diamonds – Gingerly Gentleman: Joe Terwilliger, Cornshuckers Base Ball Club of Canton, MI King of Spades – … Continue reading →

“Laws of Base Ball” Debuted At The Oregon Historical Society

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The Oregon Historical Society’s Baseball’s Magna Carta: Setting the Rules of America’s Game Exhibit opened on July 1, 2016. The public debut of the “Laws of Base Ball” authored by Doc Adams which sold, at auction, for a baseball document record $3,263,246. The papers were first exhibited in Portland because the new owner, who chooses to remain anonymous, is a “friend of the historical society.” The documents “thoroughly change the early history of baseball,” the historical society states. The 1857 documents are the “first written-down rules of what became the modern game,” Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk told … Continue reading →

2024 Events Planned In Honor of Doc Adams

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Here’s some advance notice of events planned in honor of Doc Adams this year. A calendar of events we are aware of can be found in this calendar – stay tuned as events are added. Doc Adams Old Time Base Ball Festival (dedicated 2015) – Old Bethpage, NY (August 3 – 4) Doc Adams Birthplace Classic (est. 2016) – Mont Vernon, NH (September 28) The Knickerbocker Experience (est. 2022) * Gettysburg Nineteenth Century Baseball Festival – Gettysburg, PA (July 20-21) * Doc Adams Old Time Base Ball Festival – Old Bethpage, NY (August 3-4) * Doc Adams Birthplace Classic – … Continue reading →

Baseball Historian Graham Womack On Doc Adams

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As a historian, I care about accuracy and preserving what really happened in baseball’s history. Enshrining Doc Adams in the Hall of Fame would be a great way to honor this. The creator of this website, Roger J. Ratzenberger, Jr. does a nice job of summing up Adams’ accomplishments. I’ll offer them here for anyone who hasn’t read that post yet. Essentially, Adams, the president of New York City’s Knickerbocker Base Ball Club led a committee that codified various rules for the game, including that bases were to be 90 feet apart, games were to last nine innings and teams … Continue reading →

The Greater New York Sports Chronology

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Jeffrey A. Kroessler’s comprehensive and entertaining time line stretches from the pastoral entertainments of the Dutch to the corporate captivity of professional sports. He chronicles events ranging from the truly heroic to the heartbreaking, from moments of municipal greatness to inescapable social change. Through it all he plants the world of sport at the very center of New York’s story Columbia University Press Doc Adams is mentioned several times in Jeffrey A. Kroessler’s book, “The Greater New York Sports Chronology“:

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Doc Adams Base Ball Biography (Preface)

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For the next several weeks, we will recount Doc’s base ball (yes, it was two words when Doc played) biography to provide more information to those who may wonder who this 19th century Doctor was and why it is unconscionable that he is not being considered for enshrinement in baseball’s “hallowed hall”. Before we get into his base ball career next week, we’ll start with a preamble of his early life in his post. Daniel Lucius Adams was born in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire on November 1, 1814 to Dr. Daniel Adams MD and Nancy Mulliken.  It is not known … Continue reading →