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 →

Peverelly’s “American Pastimes”: 1858

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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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Major League Baseball Profiles

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David Nemec, American baseball historian, novelist and playwright, provides an interesting profile of Doc Adams in his book, “Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 2: The Hall of Famers and Memorable Personalities Who Shaped the Game“. This 2-volume series is described as: More than a collection of mere facts and statistics, Major League Baseball Profiles provides a unique history of the evolution of major league baseball, from the date of the first major league game in 1871 through the 1900 season, which marked not only the close of a century but also the unofficial end of what many believe to be the … Continue reading →

Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams First, Gunsmoke Second

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I want to get Doc’s story out there. I want to educate people so that automatically when they hear the name Doc Adams, they don’t think of Gunsmoke first. They think of Gunsmoke second. You see, that’s okay, Gunsmoke was a very fine television program. It didn’t last as long as Doc did playing base ball but, I don’t think, I’d have to check that with Wikipedia. … I will just keep hammering away, you know it’s like throwing those dirty socks up at the ceiling. Some of them got to stick sometimes. And someday they will. You never know. … Continue reading →

The Gotham And The Knickerbockers

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On October 18, 1853, the Gotham and the Knickerbockers played what was referred to “the finest and at one time the closest match, that has ever been played between the two clubs”. The Knickerbockers prevailed by a score of 21-14 with Doc Adams scoring 3 runs.

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