Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella in their book, “The New Biographical History of Baseball: The Classic—Completely Revised” refer to Doc Adams as one of the “candidates for the honorific title of Father of Baseball”.
Continue reading →What may you ask does a book titled “Searching for Mary Schäffer: Women Wilderness Photography” by Colleen Skidmore have to do with Doc Adams? The description of the book is as follows: Mary Schäffer was a photographer, writer, botanical painter, and mapmaker from Philadelphia, well known for her travels in the Canadian Rockies and Jasper at the turn of the twentieth century. In Searching for Mary Schäffer, Colleen Skidmore takes up Schäffer’s own resonant themes—women and wilderness, travel and science—to ask new questions, tell new stories, and reassess the persona of Mary Schäffer imagined in more recent times. Public and private … Continue reading →
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:
Continue reading →Doc Adams on the shortstop position from the seminal February 29, 1896 Sporting News interview. “I used to play shortstop, and I believe I was the first to occupy that place, as it had formerly been left uncovered. At different times I have, however, played in every position except that of pitcher. We had a splendid catcher in the person of Charles S. Debost, who would be a credit to the position even to-day, I am sure. He was a good batter also, and a famous player in his day. Thw Spoering Newa (February 29, 1896) John Thorn tweeted the … Continue reading →
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
Continue reading →The following is from the “Biographical and Historical Record of the Class of 1835 in Yale College, for the Fifty Years from the Admission of the Class to College” published in 1881 by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 371 State Street, New Haven, CT.
Continue reading →David L. Porter provided this biography of Doc Adams in his book, “Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: A-F”.
Continue reading →Well, the New Year is off to somewhat of a bumpy start. Our host, GoDaddy, has been having some technical difficulties and we’ve been experiencing some downtime issues (Service Unavailable) along with many other of their customers. The good news is that the issues seem to be finally resolved! (Fingers crossed) Not the way we’d want to kick off this year as Doc Adams is once again eligible and will hopefully appear on the 2025 Classic Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Then, who knows? Although the recent rule changes have made it even more difficult for Adams to finally receive … Continue reading →
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 →