Doc Adams And Achieving Excellence
Almost 200 years ago, today (July 9, 1827), Daniel Adams, M.D. wrote a letter to his 12-year-old son, Daniel Lucius Adams, while he was attending the Kimball Union School in Meriden, NH:
“One of your greatest faults as a scholar is the want of perseverance, to struggle with little recurring difficulties; you too readily give up, before making suitable effort to overcome them. This propensity you must correct, or you can never attain to anything great or excellent. Remember what Virgil says:– ‘possunt quia posse videntur’, a motto which you will recollect I told you should be inscribed on everything you undertake.”
Daniel Adams, M.D. to his son Daniel Lucius Adams
Virgil’s quote translates to “They can because they think they can.”
Daniel Adams, Sr. instilled a strong work ethic in his son that led him to strive for excellence in all he pursued from medicine to base ball to his many later endeavors.
It was that quest for excellence along with his love of the game that led him to persevere in helping shape our National Pastime in its infancy.
“As captain, I had to employ all my rhetoric to induce attendance, and often thought it useless to continue the effort, but my love for the game, and the happy hours spent at ‘Elysian Fields’ led me to persevere.”
“Father of Baseball”, The Chicago Chronicle (June 23, 1895), Doc Adams Quote
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