Category Archives: 2024

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 →

Jay Jaffe on Doc Adams’ Hall Chances

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In 2020, Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs again showed support for Doc Adams’ inclusion in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Hopefully, the committee does better homework than it did last time when Doc came up 2 votes short for election. Since the last time Doc was eligible, the discovery of his handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” was announced. This document sold at auction for $3,263,246, setting a new record for the highest priced baseball document. It was also featured in the Baseball Americana exhibit at the library of Congress. “Adams’s hand in the sport’s early rule-making is not a revelation; … Continue reading →

The Father Of The National Game Still Living In New Haven

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So far the earliest reference we have found referring to Dr. Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams, M.D. as a “Father of Baseball” in June 23, 1895. That was 12 years before the Mills Commission created the Doubleday myth and 43 years before Alexander Cartwright was elected into the Hall of Fame. This article predates the seminal Sporting News interview by 8 months. This article was in a column called “Side Lights On The Ball Field” in the Chicago Chronicle. The piece teases the article with “The Father of the National Game Still Living In New Haven” and starts out with “Father … Continue reading →

Major League Baseball Profiles

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David Nemec, American baseball historian, novelist and playwright, provides an interesting profile of Doc Adams in his book, “Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 2: The Hall of Famers and Memorable Personalities Who Shaped the Game“. This 2-volume series is described as: More than a collection of mere facts and statistics, Major League Baseball Profiles provides a unique history of the evolution of major league baseball, from the date of the first major league game in 1871 through the 1900 season, which marked not only the close of a century but also the unofficial end of what many believe to be the … Continue reading →

First Base Ball Game At Elysian Fields

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What is often referred to as the first recorded game played under the Knickerbocker Rules (now believed to be yet another intrasquad game), took place on June 19, 1846. The Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club (aka “the New York Nine”) 23–1 in four innings. Elysian Fields First Game The enduring fame of this particular game and of its players is the product of circumstance and self-aware myth-making. As the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorn, has written: “The history of baseball is a lie from beginning to end, from its creation myth to its rosy … Continue reading →

Crack Of The Bat: The Louisville Slugger Story

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Crack of the Bat is a comprehensive and entertaining look at the most famous icon in the history of baseball, the “Louisville Slugger” bat. The story includes the evolution of bats from pioneer wagon tongues to the sleek aluminum models of today. It examines the amazing physics involved in hitting a baseball, where .007 second means the difference between a home run and a foul ball. It tells the fascinating history of the still family-owned Hillerich & Bradsby Company, which in just 80 years went from making butter churns to producing seven million bats a year. Reinforcing this tale are … Continue reading →

The Knickerbocker Experience

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We’d like to highlight an effort that brings Doc Adams and the Knickerbockers to life, The Knickerbocker Experience. It is the brainchild of Jeff “Pinetar” Kornhaas, The Knickerbocker Experience, offers an opportunity to play the game as historically accurate as possible.  “Rules aren’t bent” or “exceptions made” to make it work.  The intent is to provide an historically accurate game of base ball. That is the point of the “Knickerbocker Experience”. Play the game as it was played in 1858, 1864 or 1865.  Give people that chance to try or watch it, unrestricted by “variations or customs”.  Just pure base … Continue reading →