Karma, Fate, Coincidence? What Could Have Been

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Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the 2020 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction was postponed. Therefore, the Class of 2020 had to wait until today to be formally inducted. That created the possibility for an interesting footnote for the Class of 2020/2021. A member of the Class of 2020 is the latest and one of the highest profile shortstops (at least in recent memory) to join this elite club. Of course, that is former New York Yankee shortstop and current part owner of the Miami Marlins, Derek Jeter. What made it interesting was that Dr. Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams, M.D. … Continue reading →

Surprise Support Received For Doc Adams

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At the Fleischmanns Street Fair this past weekend, Collin ‘Stumpy’ Miller collected signatures for our Doc Adams’ petition. This was the second recent event at Fleischmanns that garnered support for Doc Adams (Fleischmanns Mountain Athletic Club & Mudville Base Ball Club Raise Awareness).  Of interest was the last person to sign the petition at the end of the day, Chris Moore. Moore’s great grandfathers’ uncle was Charle DeBost, who was a teammate of Doc’s on the 1859 Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and pictured to the immediate left of Doc (to Doc’s right) in the famous photo on display at the Hall … Continue reading →

Peverelly’s “American Pastimes”: 1851

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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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Petition Signatures Surpass 1,750

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Our petition to recognize Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams’s role as a founding father of our National Pastime has now garnered 1,750 signatures! The show of support via the petition demonstrates that we are successfully telling Doc Adams story. The intent of the petition is to demonstrate support for Hall of Fame recognition for an individual who independant historians view as an important founding father of our National Pastime.When this journey started, few had heard of the great doctor. Our hope is that Doc is recognized with enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Marjorie Adams had set a lofty … Continue reading →

Knickerbocker BBC 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 →

Echoes From The Ballpark

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‘Echoes From The Ballpark‘ by Alan Ross is a brief history of the National Pastime. In it, Doc Adams is recognized as a founding father of baseball. In 1904, Henry Chadwick, an early American sportswriter and baseball statistician, famously remarked, “Baseball never had no ‘fadder’; it jest growed.”… Although there may be no single, True Father of baseball, John Thorn (Official Baseball Historian of MLB) said it best in Doc Adams’ profile in the SABR Baseball Biography Project: “For his role in making baseball the success it is, Doc Adams may be counted as first among the Fathers of Baseball.”

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Show Support For Doc Adams

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Tom Fesolowich, President of the Mutual Base Ball Club of New York, recently sent the following call to arms to the Vintage Base Ball commnuity. The intent is to support our education campaign and demonstrate support for Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams, M.D. to finally receive his long-overdue recognition with enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Fellow Ballists, I am planning a last push for Doc Adams bid to the Hall of Fame. Here’s the concept, we each post something about Doc in our FB news feed, twitter and Instagram. We change our profile pictures to a picture of … Continue reading →

Peverelly’s “American Pastimes”: 1850

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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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Fleischmanns Mountain Athletic Club & Mudville Base Ball Club Raise Awareness

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The Fleischmanns Mountain Athletic Club (M.A.C.) and the Mudville Base Ball Club, from the Boston area, played a lively and entertaining doubleheader of 1860’s style baseball. The recent heat wave broke just in time and made the day even more enjoyable for ballists and cranks alike. Collin Miller raised awareness of the contributions of Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, MD to our National Pastime and why he should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Making the event even more special, Nancy Adams Downey, a great-granddaughter of Doc Adams, was on hand to watch the festivities and share stories about … Continue reading →