First Base Ball Game At Elysian Fields

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What is often referred to as the first recorded game played under the Knickerbocker Rules (now believed to be yet another intrasquad game), took place on June 19, 1846. The Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club (aka “the New York Nine”) 23–1 in four innings. Elysian Fields First Game The enduring fame of this particular game and of its players is the product of circumstance and self-aware myth-making. As the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorn, has written: “The history of baseball is a lie from beginning to end, from its creation myth to its rosy … Continue reading →

Crack Of The Bat: The Louisville Slugger Story

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Crack of the Bat is a comprehensive and entertaining look at the most famous icon in the history of baseball, the “Louisville Slugger” bat. The story includes the evolution of bats from pioneer wagon tongues to the sleek aluminum models of today. It examines the amazing physics involved in hitting a baseball, where .007 second means the difference between a home run and a foul ball. It tells the fascinating history of the still family-owned Hillerich & Bradsby Company, which in just 80 years went from making butter churns to producing seven million bats a year. Reinforcing this tale are … Continue reading →

The Knickerbocker Experience

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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 to provide an historically accurate game of base ball. That is the point of the “Knickerbocker Experience”. Play the game as it was played in 1858, 1864 or 1865.  Give people that chance to try or watch it, unrestricted by “variations or customs”.  Just pure base … Continue reading →

The Bat And Ball Letter

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On June 15, 1832, Doc Adams received a letter from his 11-year-old sister that has become known as the “Bat and Ball letter“. In the letter his sister Nancy sent to him at school, she said, “I have not played with your bat and ball as you bid me. I forget it every morning and indeed I have not seen it since you went away”. It is the earliest known evidence of Doc’s interest in the game. Doc was at Yale when he received this letter from his father with all the usual admonitions of you’re not studying hard enough … Continue reading →

John Montgomery Ward On Baseball’s Origins

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In Francis C. Richter’s (editor of Sporting Life) book, “Richter’s History and Records of Base Ball” written in 1914, is a comprehensive work among the early books on baseball. From the preface: This volume is designed to supply the growing need of a concise, yet complete, record of our National Game, from its remote inception and humble beginning to the present period of magnificent development to real national stature. It is also designed to serve this purpose in such form as to make it valuable, possibly indispensable, as a book of special information, of ready reference, and of general interest … Continue reading →

All Physicians Team

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I stumbled across this interesting article in Reddit. In honor of our hard-working doctors who kept us safe during the pandemic, it lists an All-Physician Team! Actually, it lists 40 players who earned a real medical degree, either before, during, or after their baseball careers. It includes some that are very familiar, more recent players such as Dr. Ron Taylor of the 1969 Miracle Mets, and Dr. Bobby Brown (3B) and Doc Medich (P), both former Yankees. It also includes the likes of Right Fielder Moonlight Graham (Dr. Archibald Graham), made famous in ‘The Field of Dreams’. But of course, … Continue reading →

Analysis of the “Laws of Base Ball”

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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 article. The full analysis can be found on Internet Archive. Conclusion While not every provision proposed by Doc Adams’ “The Laws of Base Ball” was adopted (as written) by the Convention, it is very … Continue reading →

John Zinn Reflects On Doc Adams

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When I give baseball history presentations, I usually begin by saying that “As we all know, Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York.”  The statement is usually greeted with laughs and smiles reflecting the increasing awareness that Doubleday had nothing to do with baseball’s beginnings. But this relatively frequent reaction should not lead us to become complacent. Any such thoughts got a rude awakening when I recently learned of a sign in Mendham, New Jersey proclaiming that Doubleday, who once lived there, was baseball’s “founder.”  It’s wrong, wrong, wrong!  Not only is there no evidence, Doubleday invented baseball, to … Continue reading →

The First Shortstop

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Due to the unfortunate postponement of the Induction of the Class of 2020, there was an opportunity for a very unique situation with the 2021 Hall of Fame Induction. Derek Jeter who was elected as a member of the Class of 2020, the 26th shortstop to be bestowed the honor of a plaque in Cooperstown received his in 2021. If the Early Baseball Era Committee had elected Doc Adams as a member of the Class of 2021, Jeter would be inducted alongside the man who created the shortstop position. Alas, it was not meant to be as the Early Baseball … Continue reading →