My wife, Cathy, and I have enjoyed the Dr. Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams journey we’ve been on for the last thirteen years and would like to take share some thoughts on it. First of all, we would like to thank the late Marjorie Adams, Nancy Adams Downey, and their family for sharing the story of their baseball pioneering ancestor with us. On a hot Saturday afternoon, between games of an Alert Fire Hose Company doubleheader at Colt Meadows in Hartford, CT, I was introduced to someone whom I was told was “someone that I’d really want to meet”. That someone … Continue reading →

In December, Hall of Fame electors will decide whether Daniel Lucius (Doc) Adams will be enshrined in baseball’s hallowed corridor, and if his plaque will join those of 333 others whose accomplishments and contributions to baseball earned them the sport’s highest honor.  Most Hall of Famers were selected because of their feats on the playing field.  They hit more home runs than their peers, won more games than other pitchers, or managed their teams to multiple World Series triumphs.  Their accomplishments are quantifiable, for baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of statistics.  The contributions of non-players are … Continue reading →

When the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR’s) Nineteenth Century Research Committee signed on to write and publish, “Base Ball’s 19th Century ‘Winter’ Meetings: 1857-1900” (the precursor to two volumes written by SABR’s Business of Baseball Research Committee covering 1901 – 2016’s Winter Meetings) we knew we had to start from the beginning.  And, that beginning was 1857, when baseball’s first true convention was held. Sixteen teams and forty-eight delegates in all met over two meeting dates in 1857 to codify the rules of play based on “the New York Game.”  They selected the then President of New York City’s … Continue reading →

As a historian who has researched, written and published a book, several academic journal articles (including two on 1860s-era baseball) and has a manuscript on the early game under review by a publisher, it is clear to me that accuracy is essential. And that develops only out of intensive research revealing verifiable facts—not legends. It is from that perspective that I happily urge the election of Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams to the Baseball Hall of Fame. John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian, and other researchers familiar with the 1840-1860 era have agreed on Adams’ essential role in the game’s … Continue reading →