Base Ball 1845-1871 By Seymour R. Church

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Written and published by San Francisco historian Seymour R. Church in 1902, “Base Ball 1845-1871” details the history and origins of baseball, from the formation of the New York Knickerbockers in 1845 through the establishment of the first professional league in 1871. It features numerous portraits of notable figures, including George Wright, shortstop for the Chicago Red Stockings, the country’s first professional team. Though intended as the first part in a larger series, later volumes were never published.  Church dscusses Doc Adams’ role with the Knickerbockers and the 1857 base ball convention that resulted in the birth of The National … Continue reading →

The National Association

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When the Knickerbockers met on December 6, 1856, they resolved “to call a convention of the various base ball clubs of this city and vicinity.” The New York Herald, in reporting on this meeting, observed: “We understand the object of this convention is to promote additional interest in base ball playing, by the getting up of grand matches on a scale not heretofore attempted.” The anticipated outcome would be to inaugurate new clubs and to strengthen existing ones, by conforming the rules and making the game more “scientific” and difficult to play—”manly,” in the preferred term of the day, like … Continue reading →

Doc’s Post-Baseball Accomplishments

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When Doc no longer practiced medicine and considered himself fully retired, he became an involved, prominent and respected citizen of the town of Ridgefield.  In 1870, he was elected to one term in the Connecticut State Legislature.  In 1871, he became the first President of the Ridgefield Savings Bank (now the Fairfield County Bank where his photo still hangs in the lobby of the main office), a position he would hold in two separate terms for ten of the next fifteen years.  He was the first treasurer of the Ridgefield Library (founded in 1871) and involved in the Land Improvement … Continue reading →

Peverelly’s “American Pastimes”: 1861

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Doc Adams is mentioned often in Charles A. Peverelly’s 1868 book, “American Pastimes – Containing a History of the Principal Base Ball, Cricket, Rowing, and Yachting Clubs of the United States“. The Book of American Pastimes  is an American classic and one of the most significant baseball books ever written and is considered the first “official” baseball history in existence. 180 pages out of 556 are devoted to the game of baseball and team histories. It contains tough to find information regarding rosters and game scores during the 1850’s-60’s. 

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Doc Moves To Ridgefield

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In late 1865, Doc and Cornelia moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut and in 1866 the first of their four surviving children, Catharine, was born. In a family tape recording made in late 1961 by their youngest and last surviving child, Roger Cook Adams (1874-1962), explains that Ridgefield was chosen because of the “altitude” and for “my mother’s health”. In a December 1865 letter, Cornelia wrote to a cousin: We have hung some of the pictures – have the Resolutions [*] as large as life in the dining room – the glass was cracked in coming up –the only one that was … Continue reading →

Some Favorite Doc Quotes

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I have learned a lot about Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams over the last decade, and have developed a great admiration for the ballist, the pioneer, the executive, his contributions to the game of baseball, his post-playing career, and his demonstrared love of the game. Noted baseball hisorian and author, Fred Ivor Campbell, once shared with Marjorie Adams, “Well you know Doc saved baseball“. It can easily be argued that Doc’s love of the game was instrumental in baseball’s development and survival. Please indulge me as I recount some of my favorite Doc quotes today. [Roger J. Ratzenberger, Jr.] I have … Continue reading →

Special Early Baseball Overview Committee Convened

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Here’s an update (excerpt) on the Special Early Baseball Overview Committee – the committee that establishes the ballot of 10 finalists to be considered for the Hall of Fame Class of 2022. Both the Early Baseball Era Committee, which will consider candidates whose greatest contributions to the game came prior to 1950, and the Golden Days Era Committee (1950-69) will meet for the first time at the 2021 Winter Meetings — with players from the Negro Leagues expected to be included on the ballots. The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors has convened a group of five distinguished … 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?, The book has been described as: 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 … Continue reading →