On January 14, 1899, The New York Clipper reported the passing of Dr. Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams—recognizing that he took a prominent role in arranging the new codes of playing rules.

That wasn’t hindsight.

That was written then — by those who witnessed the game’s formation in real time.

Now, more than a century later, history speaks again.

With the imminent debut at the National Baseball Hall of Fame of Adams’ handwritten “Laws of Base Ball” — the very rules presented at the first baseball convention in 1857 — we are no longer relying on interpretation.

We have the evidence.

We have the authorship.

We have the acknowledgment from his own era.

The question isn’t whether Doc Adams had a prominent role in shaping the rules of baseball.

The question is whether we’re ready to recognize it.

Adams’ “Laws of Base Ball” along with two related documents will debut at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the “Rules of Base Ball” exhibit in a private ceremony on May 23.