James Winters includes Doc Adams in his book, “Centerfield – The History Of Baseball”. He highlights his creation of the shortstop position and mentions his role in bat and ball manufacture and rules development and standardization.

“The Treasures of Major League Baseball” [edited by Major League Baseball] tells the rich and fascinating history of baseball through hundreds of photographs and an exhaustively researched and evocative text. The origin and evolution of the sport are explored, as are the great players, famous games and idiosyncrasies such as team owners, broadcasters and collectors of baseball souvenirs. Another Knickerbockers player, Daniel Adams, also plays prominently into the game’s early history. At a meeting with other amateur clubs in 1857, Adams chaired a rules committee that made important changes to the sport, like putting a nine-inning cap on games and … Continue reading →

Three amendments to the rules were proposed and received by Dr. Jones (Excelsior), the chairman of the Rules Committee; however, because the committee did not present these to the convention committee prior to the 1862 meeting, no changes to the playing rules could officially be made. Two events had resulted in the Rules Committee being unable to forward its recommended changes before the convention. In March of 1862, Dr. Adams (Knickerbocker) resigned from the Knickerbocker Club as well as the Rules Committee, married, and moved to Connecticut. Judge William Van Cott (Gotham) traveled to Centerville, Virginia, in the middle of November to … Continue reading →

Autho Vince Staten references Doc Adams in his book, “Why Is The Foul Pole Fair?” In addition to the quoted below, he also highlights excerpts from the seminal 1896 Sporting News interview. So, they made it official, this gentlemen’s club, composed of seventeen merchants, twelve clerks, five brokers, four professional men, a bank teller, a “Segar Dealer”, a hatter, a cooperage owner, and several “gentlemen”. they elected Daniel L. “Doc” Adams, a physician, their president. As president of the newly minted Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, Adams saw a need for a set of formal rules, so he put together a … Continue reading →

“Baseball : The Biographical Encyclopedia” by the editors of Total Baseball is the ‘complete biographical reference of the national pastime’. There is a lengthy entry for Doc Adams that includes his personal life and leans heavily on the 1896 Sporting News interview. Any of his improvements to baseball would have landed Adams a prominent page in baseball history. Taken together, they earn him the right to be called the true “Father of Baseball.”