The 1858 New York Knickerbockers and Brooklyn Excelsiors 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 t…
Continue reading →Knickerbocker Base Ball Club Flag On June 5, 1846, the first honorary members were elected, viz. James Lee and Abraham Tucker. At the same meeting Curry, Adams and Tucker were appointed a committee to arrange the preliminaries, and conclude a match with the New York Base Ball Club. From all the information the writer has been able to gather, it appears that this was not an organized clu…
Continue reading →In its May 25, 2026 issue, The New Yorker published “Hall of Shame” (“Baseball’s Magna Carta Finds a New Home” online) by Ben McGrath. The article chronicled a presentation delivered by Frank Murray, former owner of Doc Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball”, at the Round Hill Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. McGrath recounts how Murray acquired the historic manuscript for approximately $12,000 in 1999 and traces its remarkable journey to its eventual sale for $3.26 million. The article also revisits the growing historical case for Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams and his pioneering role in the development and standardization of baseball. … Continue reading →
Doc Adams lived in Ridgefield from about 1865 to 1888 and was an active member of the community during that time, He was the first President of the Ridgefield Savings Bank, helped form the Land Improvement Association of Ridgefield, was a founder of the Ridgefield Library Association, was elected to the Connecticut State House of Representatives, served on the building committee that erected the new “t…
Continue reading →DANIEL L. “DOC” ADAMS – 4th from left. Knickerbocker and Excelsior Base Ball Clubs, August 2, 1859, South Brooklyn, N.Y. [Source for date: SABR Pictorial History Committee Newsletter, June 1999] In the May 29, 1859 issue of The Sunday Mercury, a weekly New York newspaper that extensively covered the expanding world of base ball playing, an untitled paragraph announced the possibility o…
Continue reading →If you want to learn about Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, his life, and his contributions to our National Pastime and have a little time (about a half an hour), then check out this video presentation. If you don’t have that much time you can get a reader’s digest (e.g. social media reel) version of his baseball contributions in: Do You Know Doc Adams?
Continue reading →As Hall of Fame observed Memorial Day with their Military Classic: A Tribute to Service and Sacrifice and America 250 tributes, Doc Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” debuted in the Taking the Field exhibit. The “Laws of Base Ball” are now on long-term loan and on display in the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY thanks to their owner, Hayden Trubitt. The exhibit provides fans with an opportunity to view the “Magna Carta of Baseball” and learn about the rules contained within these groundbreaking documents. Its interactive design creates an engaging experience for both youngsters and adults alike. … Continue reading →
In Volume 9 of “Base Ball – A Journal of the Early Game” [2016], Theodore A Frank, Jr. (a pseudonym) performed an analysis of the “Laws of Base Ball.” Doc Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” were written in 1857, auctioned first in 1999, and re-discovered and auctioned again in 2016. This article evaluates the document’s content and historical significance. The following are excerpts from the a…
Continue reading →In 2016, Doc Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” was re-discovered after being “lost” for 159 years since they were presented at the first baseball convention in 1857. The documents would be sold at auction for $3.26 million and subsequently being exhibited to the public on multiple occasions at multiple venues. Here are three questions about public displays of the “Laws of Base Ball”…
Continue reading →The long-awaited return of the “Laws of Base Ball” happens tomorrow at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. As part of the Hall of Fame’s Memorial Day Weekend, Doc Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” will debut as part of the Taking the Field exhibit. The Hall passed on an opportunity to obtain the documents in 1967. It’s interesting that they had no interest in the docum…
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