Yearly Archives: 2024

John Zinn Reflects On Doc Adams

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When I give baseball history presentations, I usually begin by saying that “As we all know, Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York.”  The statement is usually greeted with laughs and smiles reflecting the increasing awareness that Doubleday had nothing to do with baseball’s beginnings. But this relatively frequent reaction should not lead us to become complacent. Any such thoughts got a rude awakening when I recently learned of a sign in Mendham, New Jersey proclaiming that Doubleday, who once lived there, was baseball’s “founder.”  It’s wrong, wrong, wrong!  Not only is there no evidence, Doubleday invented baseball, to … Continue reading →

The First Shortstop

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Due to the unfortunate postponement of the Induction of the Class of 2020, there was an opportunity for a very unique situation with the 2021 Hall of Fame Induction. Derek Jeter who was elected as a member of the Class of 2020, the 26th shortstop to be bestowed the honor of a plaque in Cooperstown received his in 2021. If the Early Baseball Era Committee had elected Doc Adams as a member of the Class of 2021, Jeter would be inducted alongside the man who created the shortstop position. Alas, it was not meant to be as the Early Baseball … Continue reading →

A Little Knickerbocker Base Ball Club History

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On June 5, 1846, the first honorary members were elected, viz. James Lee and Abraham Tucker. At the same meeting Curry, Adams and Tucker were appointed a committee to arrange the preliminaries, and conclude a match with the New York Base Ball Club. From all the information the writer has been able to gather, it appears that this was not an organized club, but merely a party of gentlemen who played together frequently, and styled themselves the New York Club. However, the match was played at Hoboken on June 19, 1846, it being the first the Club engaged in, and … Continue reading →

Baseball’s Book Of Firsts

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‘Baseball’s Book of Firsts‘ by Lloyd Johnson is a “A comprehensive guide to the record-setting achievements of baseball’s greatest players”. Now what would a baseball book of firsts be if it didn’t recognize the first ever shortstop, Doc Adams, the pioneer credited with creating the position. On February 29, 1896, the Sporting News published an article on Dr. D. L. Adams sub-titled ‘Memoirs of the Father of Base Ball’ in which Doc talks about his contributions to the nascent National Pastime.  In this article, Doc Adams is quoted as saying, I used to play shortstop, and I believe I was … Continue reading →

Baseball Rules And Medical Practices

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In our continuing quest to find more Doc Adams references, we came across an article in the Spring 1999 Harvard Medical Alumni magazine. The excellent article, “Baseball Rules”, by James S. Distlehorst is extremely accurate. The article summarizes Doc’s base ball life and contributions, and also includes his post-baseball life. An interesting addendum is another article by Distlehorst, “Treating the Knickerbockers”. It describes the medical practices of the time and what Adams’ practice would be like and the care he would provide. You can read both articles here or within the complete magazine edition on Internet Archive. Distlehorst quotes two … Continue reading →

The Fly Game: Knickerbockers Vs. The Excelsiors

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In the May 29, 1859 issue of The Sunday Mercury, a weekly New York newspaper that extensively covered the expanding world of base ball playing, an untitled paragraph announced the possibility of a forthcoming game that would be strikingly different from all others played during the past few years: “We have heard it rumored — we do not know with what truth — that the Knickerbocker Club, of this city, will shortly play a match with the Excelsior Club, of Brooklyn, in which they will repudiate catching the ball upon the bound.” The Sunday Mercury William Cauldwell, the editor of … Continue reading →

If I Had A Vote – Jay Jaffe

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Prior to the Pre-Integration Era ballot in 2015, Jay Jaffe of Fangraphs expressed his opinion on Doc Adams’ candidacy in his article “Breaking down the Hall of Fame’s Pre-Integration Era ballot, Part 1” in Sports Illustrated. Below is an extract from that article. Doc Adams, pioneer Roll over, Abner Doubleday, and tell Alexander Cartwright the news. No less an authority than MLB official historian John Thorn called Daniel Lucius Adams “first among the Fathers of Baseball” in a 1993 essay for Total Baseball and “the most significant figure in the early history of baseball” in his 2011 book Baseball in … Continue reading →

Doc’s Parents

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Doc’s father, Daniel Adams MD (1773-1864) was born in Townsend, Massachusetts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1797 and from the second class of Dartmouth Medical School in 1799. As well as being a practicing physician, he was a farmer, an author of widely used arithmetic and geography textbooks (the former was in use from 1801 to c.1864), a deacon of his Congregational church, choir master, a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, president of the New Hampshire Medical Society, and an early and frequent orator in support of temperance and abolition. In 1800, he married Nancy … Continue reading →

John Thorn’s Five Inventors

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John Thorn, Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball, asks the questions “Who Is Baseball’s Edison? Its Leonardo?” in his Our Game post “5 Inventors”. We are particularly interested in his thoughts on Doc Adams. As usual, an excellent read – take the time to read the whole article.

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