Baseball Americana on All-star Weekend

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The events of All-star Weekend associated with the Library of Congress’  Baseball Americana exhibition did not disappoint. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Baseball’s Magna Carta in its 1st major exhibition since being rediscovered and sold at auction for $3.26M. Events included a Vintage Base Ball demonstration, a bat-making demonstration, and an a Capella performance of vintage base ball songs by The Capital Hearings. The highlight of the day was John Thorn’s presentation, “The Origins of the Modern Game: The Laws of Base Ball”.

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Doc Adams and Achieving Excellence

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191 years ago today (July 9, 1827), I was 12 and at the Kimball Union School in Meriden, NH. My father wrote me:“One of your greatest faults as a scholar is the want of perseverance, to struggle with little recurring difficulties; you too readily give up, before making suitable effort to overcome them. This propensity you must correct or you can never attain to anything great or excellent.”

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Baseball Americana at the Library of Congress

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The Baseball Americana exhibition at the Library of Congress is now open and gearing up for All-star weekend.  The ‘Laws of  Base Ball” authored by Doc Adams is the centerpiece of this major, year-long exhibition. The exhibition will explore baseball’s past and present and how the game has forged a sense of community for players and fans across the country. “The founding documents of baseball that would shape the modern game as our national pastime were ironed out in January and February 1857 at a convention called by the Knickerbockers Base Ball Club in New York City. Corrections were made by hand as … Continue reading →

2018 Doc Adams Old Time Base Ball Festival

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The 2018 Annual Doc Adams Old Time Base Ball  Festival will take place on August 4 & 5 at Old Bethpage Village Restoration. In 2015, this longest running annual vintage base ball festival of its kind was renamed in honor of Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams. The festival is a must for baseball fans, history buffs, and anyone looking for a a day of outdoor fun. Marjorie Adams, a great-granddaughter of Doc Adams, will be on-hand at the festival again this year. So stop by, say hello, and learn more about this long-overlooked founding father of the National Pastime who will hopefully someday soon … Continue reading →

Baseball Americana Exhibit Opens at the Library of Congress

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The ‘Laws of Base Ball” authored by Doc Adams will be the centerpiece of a major year-long exhibition that opens today at the Library of Congress. The exhibition will explore baseball’s past and present and how the game has forged a sense of community for players and fans across the country. “The founding documents of baseball that would shape the modern game as our national pastime were ironed out in January and February 1857 at a convention called by the Knickerbockers Base Ball Club in New York City. Corrections were made by hand as the details were negotiated by New York-area … Continue reading →

First Base Ball Game At Elysian Fields

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What is often referred to as the first recorded game played under the Knickerbocker Rules (now believed to be yet another intrasquad game), took place on June 19, 1846, when the Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club (aka “the New York Nine”) 23–1 in four innings. Elysian Fields First Game

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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”.

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A Little Knickerbocker Base Ball Club History

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ON THIS DATE: (June 5th) IN 1846: Doc Adams was appointed to a committee with teammates, Duncan Curry and William Tucker to arrange a game with the New York Base Ball Club. That game would take place two weeks later. IN 1855: The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club played the Eagle Base Ball Club in Hoboken, NJ. It lasted four innings.Final score: KBBC 27 aces, Eagles 14 aces. Doc Adams made 3 runs (aces) and 3 hands (outs).

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The Fly Game

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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 →