Doc Adams Elected For 4th Term
Doc Adams became president of the Knickerbockers for the fourth time, winning an election held at the club’s April 5, 1856, meeting.
Continue reading →Springfield Letter
Thanks goodness for baseball that Doc stayed in New York. How would things have changed had he moved to Springfield?
Continue reading →2nd Base Ball Convention Convened
The chairman named the following committees: On Rules: D.L. Adams, C. Place, Jr., T.G. Voorhis, G. Van Cott, T.F. Jackson, W.A. Sears, Francis Pidgeon, W. Cauldwell, A.B. Taylor. “Baseball’s 19th Century ‘Winter’ Meetings, 1857-1900, SABR, 2018 Baseball Memory Lab
Continue reading →Doc Resigns From The Knickerbockers
On March 26, 1862, Doc tendered his resignation from the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, “… although absent in body, I shall be present in spirit. My interest in the Club will never cease, nor can I forget the many happy hours spent in communion with its members.” James Whyte Davis, the KBBC secretary, accepted his resignation, “I indulge the hope that the ‘spirit’ you express of being with us as always, may be accompanied by the body on the old Play Grounds. Playing commences on the 21st.” Doc was made an honorary member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and … Continue reading →
1860 NABBP Convention
The Rules Committee, chaired by Dr. Daniel Adams of the Knickerbockers, had met in February to make recommendations to the convention on rule changes, and Adams reported that the committee was unanimously in favor of the fly game. A debate then ensued, with Judge Van Cott supporting the bound version and Dakin and Frank Pidgeon of the Eckfords arguing in favor of the fly game. Thirty-seven delegates voted for the fly game while 55 voted against it. For another year, at least as far as the official rules were concerned, the bound game would be the game of National Association … Continue reading →
Cholera
Daniel Lucius Adams obtained n M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1838, Following his time in college, he joined his father’s medical practice. The pair worked in Mont Vernon, before the younger Adams relocated twice, first to Boston and then to New York City. Adams also worked for the New York Dispensaries, which provided medical care to poor residents.[He offered his assistance when outbreaks of cholera affected New York City. For providing vaccinations, Adams received yearly pay of $400 for a time. His field of employment gave rise to his nickname of “Doc”, which was given as “Dock” at the … Continue reading →
Doc’s Parents
Doc’s father, Daniel Adams MD (1773-1864) was born in Townsend, Massachusetts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1797 and from the second class of Dartmouth Medical School in 1799. As well as being a practicing physician, he was a farmer, an author of widely used arithmetic and geography textbooks (the former was in use from 1801 to c.1864), a deacon of his Congregational church, choir master, a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, president of the New Hampshire Medical Society, and an early and frequent orator in support of temperance and abolition. In 1800, he married Nancy … Continue reading →
Batter Up! History of Baseball
Dona Herweck Rice identifies Doc Adams role in a rules timeline, in er book “Batter Up! History of Baseball”.
Continue reading →1859 NABBP Convention
The Rules Committee consisted of Dr. D.L. Adams [the chair], T.G. Voorhis, T.F. Jackson, W.A. Sears, F. Pidgeon, and William Cauldwell; (three others were absent). “Baseball’s 19th Century ‘Winter’ Meetings, 1857-1900, SABR, 2018
Continue reading →Efforts Ramp Up to Get CT Baseball Legend Into Hall of Fame
In his March 6, 2015 Connecticut Magazine article, “Efforts Ramp Up to Get CT Baseball Legend Into Hall of Fame”, Eric Olgang detailed the beginning of Marjorie Adams’ quest. The 1858 New York Knickerbockers and Brooklyn Excelsiors It wasn’t the pitch she was expecting. A few years ago, Marjorie Adams of Mystic attended a lecture in Simsbury on the pre-Civil War history of baseball when the speaker, Gary Goldberg-O’Maxfield threw the baseball history equivalent of a curveball—he discussed Doc Adams, and hailed him as a forgotten founding father of America’s pastime. Adams is Marjorie’s great grandfather and she was shocked … Continue reading →