The Knickerbocker Experience

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As we know, the “Special” Early Baseball Overview Committee inexplicably left Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, M.D. off the 2022 Early Baseball Era Ballot. At the time, we indicated that this would not deter us from continuing our education campaign and its goal of seeing Doc Adams rightfully enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We’d like to share a new, effort that brings Doc Adams and the Knickerbockers to life, a brainchild of Jeff “Pinetar” Kornhaas, The Knickerbocker Experience. The Knickerbocker Experience, offers an opportunity to play the game as historically accurate as possible.  “Rules aren’t bent” or “exceptions … 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 … Continue reading →

A Little Knickerbocker Base Ball Club History

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On June 5, 1846, the first honorary members were elected, viz. James Lee and Abraham Tucker. At the same meeting Curry, Adams and Tucker were appointed a committee to arrange the preliminaries, and conclude a match with the New York Base Ball Club. From all the information the writer has been able to gather, it appears that this was not an organized club, but merely a party of gentlemen who played together frequently, and styled themselves the New York Club. However, the match was played at Hoboken on June 19, 1846, it being the first the Club engaged in, and … Continue reading →

The Fly Game: Knickerbockers Vs. The Excelsiors

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In the May 29, 1859 issue of The Sunday Mercury, a weekly New York newspaper that extensively covered the expanding world of base ball playing, an untitled paragraph announced the possibility of a forthcoming game that would be strikingly different from all others played during the past few years: “We have heard it rumored — we do not know with what truth — that the Knickerbocker Club, of this city, will shortly play a match with the Excelsior Club, of Brooklyn, in which they will repudiate catching the ball upon the bound.” William Cauldwell, the editor of the newspaper, predicted … Continue reading →

Doc Musings

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“He’s the true father of baseball and you’ve never heard of him.” John Thorn, Official Historian of MLB “Well you know Doc saved baseball.” Fred Ivor Campbell, noted baseball historian and author “Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection.” Red Smith, sportswriter “I indulge the hope that the ‘spirit’ you express of being with us always, may be accompanied by the body on the old Play Grounds. Playing commences on the 21st. James Whyte Davis, baseball pioneer, Knickerbocker Base Ball Club “Resolved, that to him as much if not … Continue reading →

Doc Adams Elected Knickerbockers’ Vice-President

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The Knickerbockers held elections annually to determine who would serve as officials. At the club’s second election, held on May 5, 1846, Adams was named the Knickerbockers’ vice president. At an April 1847 meeting, he became the president of the team, and was re-elected in 1848 and 1849. He was the leader of a “Committee to Revive the Constitution and By-Laws” of baseball in 1848.

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Jay Jaffe Weighs In On Era Committee Restructuring

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Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs wrote an article on the recent restructuring of the Era Committees by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jaffe’s article, “The Hall of Fame Shakes Up its Era Committee System Yet Again” discussses the history of the Committee rules over time, the most recent changes, and an analysis of those changes and their implications. In a post since the changes were announced, we expressed concern that Doc Adams’ road to the Hall of Fame became more challenging. It seemed pretty obvious, and not just to us. Josh Rawich confirmed our thoughts on making the ballot as … Continue reading →

Knickerbocker BBC Adopts 1st Uniform

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The fifth annual meeting was held at Abell’s, 474 Broadway, on the 7th of April, 1849. The officers elected for the year, were : D. L. Adams, President ; Ed. W. Talman, Vice-President; Eugene Plunkett, Secretary; F. C. Niebuhr, Treasurer. Directors—E. E. Dupignac, A. H. Drummond, B. C. Lee. At a meeting held April 24, 1849, a uniform was adopted for the club, viz. blue woolen pantaloons, white flannel shirt, chip (straw) hats ; and it may here be mentioned that the blue and white has ever since remained the costume of the club. The straw hats were abolished some … Continue reading →

Not All Good News

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The good news from the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s annnouncement about restructuring their Era Committees is that the new Classic Baseball Era Committee will meet every 3 years starting In December of 2024 (for the Class of 2025). This means that Doc Adams is now eligible to be considered for the Class of 2025. That’s great news. However, as if the compositon of the Historical Overview Committees that develop the ballots, a lack of appropriate attention focused on early pioneers of the game, and additional hurdles chronicled by others, aren’t enough, buried in the details of the restructuring announcement … Continue reading →

“Laws Of Base Ball” Sell For $3,263,246

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On April 24, 2016, the last hours of the auction for the “Laws of Base Ball” authored by Doc Adams lived up to its billing and did not disappoint as the closing bid came in at $3,263,246 setting a new record for the highest priced baseball document. “Adams’s hand in the sport’s early rule-making is not a revelation; instead, it is the physical record of his central role memorialized in the three surviving pages of his document.” This compelling artifact surely establishes that Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams is unequivocally a key Founding Father of baseball and deserves to be enshrined … Continue reading →