My Baseball Journey and Support of Doc Adams’ Election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by Joe Williams

This post is long overdue. My friend, Roger Ratzenberger, has politely asked me on many occasions to write something for Doc Adams Base Ball in support of Doc Adams for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I tried writing something over the summer, but I could not figure out what I could add to what has already been written for the site. Doc Adams Base Ball already covers everything about Doc’s life and baseball accomplishments in a wonderful way. I told Roger on July 17th that, “The site seems to cover everything and not sure what I can write that would add value.” Roger understood and thanked me for my efforts.

Just two days later something happened that made me decide that I should write something. The morning of July 19^th, my wife and I made the journey to Cooperstown, New York for our 38^th consecutive Hall of Fame Weekend. We first attended the inductions in 1987 and saw Ray Dandridge, Catfish Hunter and Billy Williams give their speeches while we stood in Cooper Park, located outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. We have so many fond memories of these weekends, including the year the inductions were cancelled during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. We were able to stay at the Otesaga Resort Hotel in a room that would have been occupied by a hall of famer, perhaps Eddie Murray, my childhood favorite ballplayer.

Our first night in Cooperstown we decided to go to dinner with a friend at Mel’s at 22. I had a craving for their shrimp scampi that I enjoyed in June when I attended the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference. We sat at the bar so we could get service quicker. While we snacked on Hot Nashville Fried Cauliflower, we started up a conversation with the couple to the left of us, Mark and Mary Jo Hallberg. We discussed the weekend, Joe Mauer, and their Minnesota Twins fandom. They both expressed a love for baseball and for good reason. Mary Jo is the daughter of Johnny Klippstein and the grandniece of Emil “Dutch” Leonard, both major league pitchers. Klippstein, who pitched in the majors from 1950 to 1967, has a special place in my baseball journey. As a kid I received a bunch of old baseball cards from a favorite uncle and in the box of cards was a beat up 1957 Topps card of the twirler with his hands over his head wearing a Cincinnati Redlegs uniform. It was my favorite card since it was the oldest card in the box. I was able to share my story of my Klippstein card with the Hallbergs. I could tell Mary Jo was proud of her baseball connections. She went on to say that her dad was a wonderful father and man. She beamed with pride. He passed away in 2003, a week before the World Series.

The encounter with the Hallbergs reminded me of my dear friend, Marjorie Adams. Like Marjorie, I could tell Mary Jo cared deeply for her family. She enjoyed talking about her baseball connections but was not seeking attention or exploiting her status as a family member of two baseball greats. Marjorie promoted Doc Adams, not solely for herself but for her family as well, especially her late dad, Daniel Putnam Adams. Marjorie’s relentless determination to spread the importance of Doc Adams to the game of baseball and its history is the most organized and dedicated effort to get someone elected to the Hall of Fame that I have seen in my 50 years of following the game I love so much. She was everywhere enlisting people to join the cause. She appeared on podcasts, spoke at conferences, was vocal on social media, and attended vintage baseball games. She became a friend to anyone that had an interest in baseball. Since her passing in 2021, Roger and others have kept the cause alive. Beyond the cause, I can say she was my friend. She would send me baseball gifts for holidays or just because she felt like it. I am writing this piece while sitting next to a Knickerbocker Base Ball Club cap she gave me. She will always have a special place in my heart.

Meeting Mary Jo and knowing Marjorie and hearing their love of family and their pride in their baseball connections was not new to me. I had the honor to oversee the formation of the Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legends Project for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). As a subcommittee of SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee, we have put forth candidates since 2009 for SABR members to vote on annually and select an Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. I was blessed to have worked with the late great baseball historians, Charles Faber and Bob Gregory, to create the process to determine our candidates. In our second year, James “Deacon” White was selected our winner. Deacon’s selection had an important impact on my life. On May 20, 2011, I received an email from Todd Watkins, the great-great-grandson of Deacon White. He wrote, “I’m looking for advice of who I can write or petition to get Deacon White in the Hall of Fame when he is up for election again in 2013.” The email was a beginning for me to see first-hand how a family was proud of their connection to baseball greatness and what it would mean to them to see their ancestor honored in Cooperstown. The family had their wish granted when White was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on December 3, 2012, when he was selected by the Pre-Integration Era Committee. Todd emailed me that day, “We’re so excited!” and his father, Jerry Watkins wrote, “We can hardly believe it. I have been on the phone to relatives all day.” Jerry, White’s great-grandson, spoke at the induction ceremony on behalf of the family on July 29, 2013. He did a tremendous job. I had lunch with Todd and Jerry the day before at Doubleday Cafe to discuss Jerry’s speech and to celebrate the honor. Jerry informed me he was going to thank me in his speech. When I heard my name in the speech, it was surreal since I would never have thought that would be a possibility when I first heard Ray Dandridge give his speech in 1987. This relationship led me to a deep knowledge of not just Deacon but also his family. I wrote Deacon’s bio for SABR in 2016 and worked with Dave Stalker, Gary Passamonte and Ken Kirk to erect a monument for the “White Family of Caton” in Margaret Smyers Park in Caton, New York on October 10, 2020.

Today I serve as co-chair of the Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legends Project with the highly respected and talented Adam Darowski of Sports Reference. In 2014 we were excited to announce Doc Adams as the Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend. This announcement eventually led to my friendship with Marjorie Adams. I was hoping for a repeat of what happened to Deacon White and his family, and that almost happened on December 7, 2015, when Adams was on the Pre-Integration Era ballot. He received the most votes but fell two votes short of election. I spoke with Marjorie after the vote, and she was distraught. I expressed to her that I was disappointed with the result but was super optimistic that he would be elected the next go around. Doc came up just two votes short the first time he made a ballot — an amazing result considering he was forgotten by the baseball community from the publication of his obituary in the New York Clipper on January 14, 1899 until the April 13, 1980 article in the New York Times entitled: Mailbox: On Baseball When the Game Was Very New. The contents of the New York Times article was provided to the newspaper by Marjorie’s nephew, Nathan Adams Downey. It laid out Doc’s role in the formation of the game as told by Doc’s son, Roger Cook Adams. After that article, John Thorn’s research and writings, and Marjorie Adams’ efforts brought Doc Adams alive again, allowing us to celebrate and promote his contributions to baseball.

Despite the emergence of The Laws of Baseball shortly after the Pre-Integration Era ballot of 2015, I and several others I knew thought Doc would be a shoo-in for election the next time he was eligible. That did not happen. The National Baseball Hall of Fame shook up the voting process by changing the Era Committees. Doc’s next step to enshrinement would be when the Early Baseball Era Committee ballot was to be announced on November 5, 2021. The ballot was announced, but no Doc Adams! How could someone be left off a ballot when they missed by just two votes and was the leading vote getter the previous Era Committee meeting? It was not a good day in Mudville for Doc’s supporters. Then on April 22, 2022, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced changes again to the Era Committees. The committee Doc would be eligible for going forward was named the Classic Baseball Era Committee. The new committee eligibles now consist of individuals from the period prior to 1980 and includes Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. They also changed the ballot size to just eight candidates and that committee members could only vote for a maximum of three. The odds of Doc making the ballot in the upcoming months will be difficult. If he does make the ballot, it will be a challenge to get the 75% needed.

No matter what the odds are for him gaining election, I consider Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams the most important figure not enshrined in Cooperstown. I am not going to list his accomplishments. You can find all that information throughout the Doc Adams Base Ball site. Roger Ratzenberger has done a wonderful job maintaining the site. Look around the site and you will learn a great deal. But what I will say is that I support Doc’s nomination for the Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot and for his election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame during the Winter Meetings in December. Telling the story of baseball is incomplete without Doc Adams. Visitors to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum can learn the history of the game through the Hall’s roster of inductees and their accomplishments. Without Doc’s name listed, the story cannot be fully told.

Joe Williams is a baseball historian, writer, and Co-chair of SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legends Project

This is part of our “Speaking of Doc” series.