Today’s post is a bit of a sidebar.

If you follow our site, you are familiar with the ‘Laws of Base Ball’, especially Doc Adams’ handwritten 1^st draft. However, you may or not be aware that their provenance passes through Princess Constance Wilcox Pignatelli. She was the granddaughter of William H. Grenelle, who penned the formal copy of the Laws.

William H. Grenelle and his wife, Julia Porter Huntington had seven children:

1. Julia Stuart Grenelle (27 Dec 1849 – 4 Dec 1909)
2. William Earl Grenelle (1 June 1852 – 31 Jul 1871)
3. Charles Frederick Grenelle (13 Oct 1855 – 11 Jun 1861)
4. Joseph Huntington Grenelle (1 Jul 1861 – 11 Dec 1937)
5. Mary Hobart Grenelle (2 Mar 1868 – 1943) married George Augusta Wilcox.
6. Thomas Grenelle (12 Jan 1870 – 21 Aug 1940)
7. Robert Rutherford Grenelle (19 Mar 1871 – 2 August 1964)

Constance Wilcox was the daughter of Mary Hobart Grenelle and George Augusta Wilcox. She married Prince Guido Pignatelli di Montecalvo of Italy, which is how she became a princess. Her story is fascinating, full of intrigue, romance, and enough twists and turns for a soap opera. But that’s a story for another time.

In 1967, Princess Pignatelli offered to sell the Laws to the Hall of Fame; however, they were not interested. The Hall of Fame apparently didn’t understand the significance of the documents (a scary thought), were only interested in them if they were free, or perhaps they weren’t interested because they didn’t fit their narrative. In any event, almost six decades later, they are currently on loan to the Hall by their current owner, Hayden Trubitt. They are displayed in an exhibit that gives little attention to their history or the stories behind them. It may reflect an effort to appeal to today’s shorter attention spans, diminishing interest in detail, and general lack of engagement with history.

While recently doing some research at Yale, a find (on a much, much lesser scale than the Laws, or the ‘Nestor’) revealed that William Grenelle’s granddaughter was not in possession of all of her grandfather’s surviving base ball artifacts.

William H. Grenelle’s copy of the 1859 Constitution and by-laws of the National Association of Base Ball Players was found to reside in Yale’s archives.  Apparently, ownership of this document passed from William through his son, Thomas, to his son Robert. It was Robert who then donated it to the Yale Library.

The document itself was signed by both Thomas and Robert and is believed to have been donated in 1963.

“THE KNICKERBOCKER CLUB, organized in 1845, was the pioneer organization, and for several years the only one on the field.”

“Accordingly, a call, signed by the officers of THE KNICKERBOCKER CLUB, (as the senior organization of the kind,) was published several weeks, pursuant to which a Convention was held in the city of New-York, in May, 1857, at which the following Clubs were represented by three delegates each, viz. :- Knickerbocker, Gotham, Eagle, Empire, Putnam, Baltic, Excelsior, Atlantic, Harmony, Harlem, Eckford, Bedford, Nassau, Continental, Union, and Olympic.”

“The undersigned were appointed a Committee to superintend the publishing of the Constitution, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations of the game.

E.R. Wilbur,

Wm. H. Grenelle,

J. Rose Postley.”

Constitution and by-laws of the National Association of Base Ball Players, with the rules and regulations of the game of base ball : adopted March, 1858, and amended March, 1859