A Pitch For Doc Adams Is Thrown In Cooperstown

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The latest “Pitch for Doc Adams” event was held on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 4 p.m. at historic Doubleday Field in Cooperstown with two clubs from the Delaware County Vintage Base Ball Association – the Mountain Athletic Club of Fleischmanns and the Polecat Base Ball Club featuring the Hamden Nine from Hamden showcasing nearly 40 years of baseball evolution in a progressive format starting in the year 1857 and finishing in 1895, It was a great event, on a beautiful day, in the town where baseball lives. Fans were treated to a fun day of great play while learning about … Continue reading →

Doc Adams ’24

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The Vintage Base Ball community is not being shy about their thoughts about what they hope will be announced at this year’s MLB Winter Meetings regarding baseball pioneer, Doc Adams. They’re wearing their heart on their sleeve (sort of) in an effort to demonstrate their support for the long-overlooked base ball legend that MLB Official Historian, John Thorn, referred to as “baseball’s most important figure not in the Hall of Fame.” Tom “Big Bat” Fesolowich, Mutual Base Ball Club president and founder, and founder of the National Association of Historic Base Ball Clubs came up with a novel and timely … Continue reading →

Henry Chadwick On The Father Of Baseball

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On August 16, 1898, Hall of Fame pioneer, Henry Chadwick wrote to his friend, Doc Adams, responding to Doc’s letter congratulating him on the title of “Father of Base Ball”. Mr. Chadwick wrote: “That title of ‘Father of Base Ball’ is out of place. Base [Ball] like Topsy ‘never had no fader’; it growed up.” Henry Chadwick in letter to Doc Adams (August 16, 1898) Mr. Chadwick wasn’t just being modest; he knew that baseball evolved from other bat and ball games and that there was no single “Father of Base Ball”. However, there are several individuals who played instrumental roles in … Continue reading →

Memories Of The Father Of Base Ball (part 2)

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Buffalo, New York August 1939 Written by: Roger Cook Adams “During the present year when the centennial of the first out-break of base ball is being celebrated at Cooperstown, it may be of interest to record the important part played in the development of the game by an early member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York.” … “The first five years of the existence of the Club were evidently the hardest. Enthusiasm waned and attendance lagged. There was no inter-club rivalry, and often Dr. Adams would go to Elysian Fields and find only two or three others … Continue reading →

Do You Know Doc Adams (Chapter 3: His Legacy Lives On)

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With The Pitch For Doc Adams event ironically planned for Doubleday Field, Cooperstown, New York tomorrow, our thoughts are on the baseball pioneer we honor and hope that he will be a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025. This is the 3rd and final chapter of Do You Know Doc Adams (Chapter 1: He Was More Than A Player, Chapter 2: The Laws of Base Ball). Special thanks to Jake Schmidt for all his efforts on the “Doc You Know Doc Adams?” videos.

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Happy 11th Birthday DocAdamsBaseBall.org!

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The Doc Adams Base Ball website is celebrating its 11th birthday! It’s been a fun, exciting, and rewarding ride – one that will continue until Doc and his contributions are well known by baseball fans. Hopefully, this will result in his having a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s gallery. A lot has happened just since this website was established 11 years ago. An engaging and memorable interview of Doc Adams (Marjorie Adams) at SABR’s 6th Annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference in Cooperstown…. Selection of Doc Adams as SABR’s 2014 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend…the … Continue reading →

Doc Adams And The Rules

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Three amendments to the rules were proposed and received by Dr. Jones (Excelsior), the chairman of the Rules Committee; however, because the committee did not present these to the convention committee prior to the 1862 meeting, no changes to the playing rules could officially be made. Two events had resulted in the Rules Committee being unable to forward its recommended changes before the convention. In March of 1862, Dr. Adams (Knickerbocker) resigned from the Knickerbocker Club as well as the Rules Committee, married, and moved to Connecticut. Judge William Van Cott (Gotham) traveled to Centerville, Virginia, in the middle of November to … Continue reading →

Peter Mancuso Comments On Doc Adams

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Peter Mancuso, the Co-Chair of the Nineteenth Century Committee of the Society of American Baseball Research, recently commented on one of our posts. We wanted to take a moment to highlight his comments to all our followers. Each year, since 2009, SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee has been behind the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project, under the excellent supervision of Project Co-Chairs, Adam Darowski and Joe Williams and their sub-committee members. First only Nineteenth Century Committee members, and now, all SABR members are eligible to vote for a 19th Century baseball person, not yet selected for induction in the National … Continue reading →

Knickerbockers Vs. Empires: The Fly Game

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On August 10, 1859, the Knickerbockers played the Empires at Elysian Fields.It was the first game of the 1859 season between these two teams, however, it was not a regular match as they played “the fly game”. In the fly game, the ball must be caught “on the fly” to be an out rather on one bounce. The Knickerbockers won the contest 59-33. Doc Adams played “centre field”. He had 5 “Hands Lost” (a player was charged with a Hand Lost every time he made an out at bat or on the basepaths) but scored 5 runs. On an interesting … Continue reading →

A Pitch For Doc Adams In Cooperstown

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The Vintage Base Ball community is rallying behind long-overlooked baseball pioneer Doc Adams by sponsoring “A Pitch For Doc Adams” events to raise awareness of baseball pioneer, Doc Adams, and his Hall of Fame case. Clubs across the country are hosting mid-19th century style base ball games to raise awareness of the many contributions of Daniel Lucius Adams, MD (aka “Doc”) to our National Pastime during its nascent period. The events, dubbed “A Pitch for Doc Adams”, are one of several types planned throughout the year by vintage base ball teams across the U.S. Each event seeks to draw attention … Continue reading →