This Day in History… July 12

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Found this on the Jamaica Observer website. 1892: Despite Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, authoring documents titled the Laws of Base Ball in 1857 which established the essentials of the modern game, Alexander Cartwright is credited as the American inventor of modern baseball in 1860. Cartwright dies of natural causes at age 72 on this day. “This Day In History – July 12”, Jamaica Observer So, Cartwright invented modern baseball in 1860… Cartwright soon disappeared from baseball circles. He left New York and the Knickerbockers for California in the gold rush of … Continue reading →

A Pitch For Doc Adams

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The Vintage Base Ball community is raising awareness of baseball pioneer, Doc Adams, and his Hall of Fame case. Clubs across the country will host mid-19th century style base ball games to raise awareness of the many contributions of baseball pioneer 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 being planned throughout the year by vintage base ball teams across the U.S. Each event seeks to draw attention to Doc Adams – a long-overlooked and forgotten baseball legend – who played … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Base Ball Biography (Base Ball Player)

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“I used to play shortstop, and I believe I was the first to occupy it as it had formerly been left uncovered.”¹ Doc is credited with creating the position of shortstop in 1849/50 because the very light-weight balls would not carry into home base from being tossed from the outfield. “The advent of the short fielder, or shortstop…was a radical development and distinct innovation…however, when Adams first traipsed out to a spot between and beyond second and third bases, it was not to bolster the infield but to assist in relays from the outfield. The early Knickerbocker ball [that Doc … Continue reading →

Doc Adams And Achieving Excellence

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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 … Continue reading →

Baseball: An Illustrated History

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“Baseball: An Illustrated History”, is a companion to Ken Burns’ ground-breaking Baseball documentary. Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns mention Doc Adams several times, as well as quote from the seminal 1896 Sporting News interview. They played for “health and recreation merely,” but they also showed a lively interest in improving the game. Cartwright, along with the Knickerbockers’ president, a physician from New Hampshire named Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, would help draw up a set of new rules that changed baseball forever.The Knickerbockers decreed that the infield be diamond-shaped, rather than square. First and third bases were set forty-two paces … Continue reading →

In Memory Of Marjorie Adams

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since we lost Marjorie Adams, great-granddaughter of Dr. Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams and his greatest advocate. Although we miss her dearly, today, we remember happier times as we keep her dream alive. Marjorie’s tireless efforts to spread the story of her great-grandfather, Doc Adams, enlightened and inspired many baseball fans. She conducted a campaign to educate people on Doc’s role as a pioneer of our National Pastime and his importance to baseball’s survival and growth during its nascent period. Her goal was to see him recognized with long overdue enshrinement in … Continue reading →

But Didn’t We Have Fun?

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Peter Morris highlights how Doc Adams’ passion for baseball was critical to game’s early survival in his book, But Didn’t We Have Fun?, .  Mr. Morris retrieves a lost era and a lost way of life. Offering a challenging new perspective on baseball’s earliest years, and conveying the sense of delight that once pervaded the game and its players, Mr. Morris supplants old myths with a story just as marvelous-but one that really happened “We have already seen that the Knickerbockers became so apathetic about the game that Daniel Adams claimed to ‘have to employ all my rhetoric to induce … Continue reading →

Clearing The Bases – A Veteran Sportswriter On The National Pastime

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Jim Kaplan, a former sportswriter and book reviewer for the Minneapolis Star. former Sports Illustrated baseball writer and author of many baseball books wrote “Clearing The Bases – A Veteran Sportswriter On The National Pastime” in 2016. In it, he provided his “latest” takes on the game. In Chapter Nine, Talking Baseball, he reminisced about his enjoyment Of Hot Stove baseball. One of the events he highlighted was a SABR Day meeting of the Smoky Joe Wood Chapter that he attended. What I found most interesting is his recollection of meeting Marjorie Adams and take on Doc Adams. At meeting’s … Continue reading →

Baseball’s History Rewritten

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In 2016, not long after the vote on the 2016 Pre-integration Era Ballot, with Doc Adams receiving 10 of the 12 needed votes for election, the re-discovery of his handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” was announced. When this rare, seminal document sold at auction for $3.26 million, stories were published everywhere (most of them derivatives of Andrew Dalton’s AP story). It was hoped that his concluding statement would prove prophetic and that Doc Adams’ rediscovered, handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” would turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for this year’s MLB Winter Meetings. The Special Early Baseball … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Base Ball Biography (Baseball Pioneer)

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Daniel came to New York in 1839, set-up his medical practice and began playing base ball, although it is known he was playing some form of “bat and ball” as early as 1832 (See, The Early Years) at his home in New Hampshire, probably the Massachusetts game or Town Ball.  “I was always interested in athletics, while in college and afterward and soon after coming to New York, I began to play base ball….”¹ The New York game was played by young lawyers, doctors, merchants, bank clerks and others who could leave New York twice a week at 3:30 pm. … Continue reading →