Rewriting History

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Andrew Forbes, the author of The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays released an updated version with a “minor” correction. ” if you were to open both of those hypothetical copies of the book to the essay entitled “Madison Bumgarner and the Beautiful Lie,” and more specifically to pages 50 and 51, you would find that I, with the full backing of Team Invisible, have made a minor change to the text. “… … “More recent scholarship, though, has clarified things, and ousted Cartwright from the founder’s role. Most notably, the excellent John Thorn – who, as the Official Historian of … Continue reading →

Ridgefield Bank President

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In 1871, Doc Adams became the first President of the Ridgefield Savings Bank (now the Fairfield County Bank), a position he would hold in two separate terms for ten of the next fifteen years. His photo still hangs downstairs at the main branch alongside portraits of the bank’s other presidents.

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1857 Convention Of Base Ball Players

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The 1857 Convention of Base Ball Players met for the first time on January 22 at Smith’s Hotel, the headquarters of the Knickerbocker Club, with the following clubs represented: Knickerbocker, Gotham, Eagle, Empire, Putnam, Baltic, Excelsior, Atlantic, Harmony, Harlem, Eckford, Bedford, Narrau, and Continental. The clubs elected Daniel Adams of the Knickerbockers as president of the convention and then appointed a rules committee, made up of one member of each represented club. This was perhaps the most important meeting in the history of baseball. It was a meeting of the baseball clubs of New York City, and unlike the previous … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Remembered In The New York Clipper

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The New York Clipper according to its masthead, was “The Oldest American Sporting and Theatrical Journal”. It was the standard bearer of sports weeklies during the 19th century. When died in 1899, Doc Adams was remembered in this publication, one of the earliest to regularly cover sports in the United States and one that played an important role in popularizing baseball in the country, as follows:

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Doc Adams And The Knickerbockers

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Here are some excerpts of Doc Adam’s executive history with the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club from the point of view of the annual meetings. These extracts are from “Book of American Pastimes, Containing a History of the Principal Base Ball, Cricket, Rowing and Yachting Clubs of the United States“, Charles A. Peverelly, 1866

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Doc Adams Passed Away 126 Years Ago

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January 3, 1899, Doc Adams passed away at the age of 85 at his home in New Haven, Connecticut. In his years playing base ball (1845-1862) in New York City with the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club), he created and developed the shortstop position (1849/50), made all the balls and supervised the manufacture of all the bats. In 1857, in his ‘Laws of Base Ball’, he set the bases at 90 feet, and proposed nine innings/nine players per side and more. You can find more of Doc’s obituaries here. The New York Clipper according to its masthead, was “The Oldest American … Continue reading →

The True Godfather Of Our Game

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From Bardball.com: BARDBALL wants to resurrect the connection between baseball and poetry, between the love of the game and love of language. A century ago, most baseball columnists regularly published poems in the paper about the players, the personalities, the action and the game itself. “Casey at the Bat” might not be Shakespeare, but if Shakespeare were alive today, we bet he’d be looking for rhymes for “Yelich”, “Markakis” and “Moncado”. For Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams (11/1/1814-1/3/1899) “Doc Adams, with newly claimed fame,Now “The Man” whom historians name –Not Doubleday, not Wright,Or Doc’s teammate, Cartwright –As “The True Godfather of Our … Continue reading →

Baseball Hall of Fame Needs More Pioneers

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In the introduction to a guest post by Jamie Selko on the Our Game blog, John Thorn, the Official Historian of Major League Baseball, mentions his opinion on Doc Adams. I am on the record for stating my belief that the Baseball Hall of Fame has enough nineteenth-century players, and that what it needs is more pioneers, namely Doc Adams, Al Reach, and Jim Creighton. But if there is a case to be made for more early players, my friend Jamie Selko makes it simply yet brilliantly, below. The post, “Getting the Short (Season) Shrift”, is an interesting read.

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Doc’s Knickerbocker Uniform Buttons

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Two uniform buttons from Doc Adams’ Knickerbocker Base Ball Club (ca. 1855). These buttons currently reside in a private collection. They are likely the oldest known surviving piece of baseball uniform with provenance. These are also locked up in a bank vault. We have two buttons that belonged to Doc that are embossed with KBBC on them that they’re a little bit larger than a quarter and they’re studs. They are not regular sew-on buttons. And I showed very detailed pictures of them to Jim Gates at the Hall of Fame at the Library. He’s one of the head researchers … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Appearance On 2016 Hall Of Fame Ballot, Falls Only 2 Votes Short

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Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, MD appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot for the first, and as of now, ONLY time, on the 2016 Per-integration Era ballot. On December 7, 2015,  the Pre-integration Era Committee announced the results of the voting on the 10 candidates on the 2016 ballot at the MLB Winter Meetings. Candidates needed to receive 12 of 16 votes (75%) for election. The committee failed to elect any one of the 10 candidates. Doc Adams received the highest vote total,  just 2 shy of the required votes required for election. This was Doc’s first time appearing on a … Continue reading →