On December 6, 1856, Porter’s Spirit of the Times published an article on the rules of base ball.

At a Knickerbocker meeting held at Smith’s, 462 Broome street, on the 6th of December [1856], the President stated that the object to be the propriety of altering the By-Laws, and of calling a general Base Ball Convention. This seems to he the first step which originated the present “National Association of Base Ball Players.”

Mr. Davis offered the following resolution, which was carried. “That Messrs. Adams, Grenelle, and Wadsworth be appointed a committee on the part of the Club to call a convention of the various Base Ball Clubs of this city and vicinity.” Mr. Wadsworth moved the above resolution be published in Porter’s Spirit of the Times, and the Sunday Mercury, together with the following:

“Pursuant to the above resolution the various Base Ball Clubs of this city and vicinity are requested each to select three representatives to meet at 462 Broome street, in the city of New York, on Thursday the 22d day of January next, at half-past seven o-clock P.M.”

The rules from that convention were immortalized in Doc’s Laws of Base Ball

The diagram of the field prior to  the 1857 convention.

Earliest Baseball Illustration

Doc was called out as one of the principal players of the “First Nine”.

Daniel Lucius ‘Doc’ Adams, M.D.
Porter’s Spirit of the Times, December 6, 1856