Category Archives: Article

Remembering The First Baseball Convention

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On March 7, 2023, Fox News recalled 166th anniversary of the first national convention of base ball players. In the article, “On this day in history, March 7, 1857, baseball adopts nine players, nine innings as standard of competition“, The article does, albeit briefly, mention Doc Adams: The forgotten titan of the game is Cartwright’s fellow Knickerbocker Daniel “Doc” Adams, say baseball historians. “Considered by some to be the true ‘Father of Baseball,’ ‘Doc’ Adams was elected president of the first Base Ball Convention in 1857,” Miklich writes. “On this day in history, March 7, 1857, baseball adopts nine players, nine … Continue reading →

Searching For Doc Adams

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Just a little fun today, I recently did a search for ‘doc adams baseball’ on three major search engines over the span of a ‘week’, a ‘month’, and ‘all time’ and thought I’d share the interesting results. For the period of the last week, both DuckDuckGo and Bing came up with some good Doc content. Google came up empty. Over the span of the last month, both DuckDuckGo and Bing performed very well and Google got in the mix, rating DocAdamsBaseBall.org as #1. When it came to ‘all time’, all 3 search engines did well. In fact, DocAdamsBaseBall.org ranked #1 … Continue reading →

Thoughts From The Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremonies

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Watching the Class of 2022 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, quotes from several of the induction speeches caught my attention. “Pioneers, many times, do not get to enjoy the changes they bring about or the doors they open.” … “Remember Bud Foster in a broad context, not just as a pioneering African-American professional baseball player. Remember him as a skilled athlete who endured obstacles that are hard to imagine today, as an early force in integrating the game and as a visionary who attempted to create a league of their own when the roadblocks of his time were … Continue reading →

Reflections On The 2022 Early Baseball Era Committee Ballot

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Today, the Class of 2022 will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Congratulations to all those that will be inducted today: Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, and Buck O’Neil, Tony Oliva, and David Ortiz, as well as Tim Kurkjian (BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award} and Jack Graney (Ford C. Frick Award). For many, it’s been a long wait. On the occasion that we had hoped we would see Doc Adams’ contributions and accomplishments finally honored in Cooperstown, I’d like to pause and reflect on how we got here and what it might … Continue reading →

This Day in History… July 12

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Just came across this on the Jamaica Observer website. 1892: Despite Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, authoring documents titled the Laws of Base Ball in 1857 which established the essentials of the modern game, Alexander Cartwright is credited as the American inventor of modern baseball in 1860. Cartwright dies of natural causes at age 72 on this day. “This Day In History – July 12”, Jamaica Observer

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Ridgefield Road Trip

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In 1865, Doc and Cornelia moved to a home in Ridgefield, CT on Main Street (demolished in the 1950s to make way for Ballard Park). Between 1866 and 1874, Cornelia and Doc had four children: two boys and two girls. “For the higher altitude, … for my mother’s health”. Roger Cook Adams (Doc’s son) on why his family moved to Ridgefield While no longer practicing medicine, Doc became active in his new community. In 1870, he was elected to the State House of Representatives and was also the first treasurer of the Ridgefield Library in 1871. In the same year, … Continue reading →

The Knickerbocker Experience

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As we know, the “Special” Early Baseball Overview Committee inexplicably left Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, M.D. off the 2022 Early Baseball Era Ballot. At the time, we indicated that this would not deter us from continuing our education campaign and its goal of seeing Doc Adams rightfully enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We’d like to share a new, effort that brings Doc Adams and the Knickerbockers to life, a brainchild of Jeff “Pinetar” Kornhaas, The Knickerbocker Experience. The Knickerbocker Experience, offers an opportunity to play the game as historically accurate as possible.  “Rules aren’t bent” or “exceptions … Continue reading →

Jay Jaffe Weighs In On Era Committee Restructuring

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Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs wrote an article on the recent restructuring of the Era Committees by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jaffe’s article, “The Hall of Fame Shakes Up its Era Committee System Yet Again” discussses the history of the Committee rules over time, the most recent changes, and an analysis of those changes and their implications. In a post since the changes were announced, we expressed concern that Doc Adams’ road to the Hall of Fame became more challenging. It seemed pretty obvious, and not just to us. Josh Rawich confirmed our thoughts on making the ballot as … Continue reading →

Not All Good News

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The good news from the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s annnouncement about restructuring their Era Committees is that the new Classic Baseball Era Committee will meet every 3 years starting In December of 2024 (for the Class of 2025). This means that Doc Adams is now eligible to be considered for the Class of 2025. That’s great news. However, as if the compositon of the Historical Overview Committees that develop the ballots, a lack of appropriate attention focused on early pioneers of the game, and additional hurdles chronicled by others, aren’t enough, buried in the details of the restructuring announcement … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Eligible For Class of 2025!

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The National Baseball Hall of Fame today announced that they are once again restructuring their Era committees. Per the Hall’s announcement: Highlighting these changes is a consolidation of eras into two timeframes – the Contemporary Baseball Era, consisting of the period from 1980 to present day, and the Classic Baseball Era, consisting of the period prior to 1980 and including Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. The Contemporary Baseball Era will split into two separate ballots – one ballot to consider only players who made their greatest impact on the game since 1980, and another composite ballot consisting of managers, … Continue reading →