The Baseball “Patronym” Defined
Baseball Almanac, the “official baseball history site”, has added a “Definition of Father Of Baseball” from the Dickson Baseball Dictionary. The Dictionary has been “hailed as ‘a staggering piece of scholarship’ (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game.”
Of the 4 definitions of the “Father of Baseball”, two are of particular interest to us.
2. Patronym sometimes applied to baseball missionary Alexander Joy Cartwright (1820-1892), a bank teller and bookseller, who helped organize the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York in 1845, transforming a children’s game into an adult sport by formalizing a game already growing in popularity. Cartwright has been credited with several innovations that have since proven to be false. See Cartwright myth.
3. Patronym sometimes assigned to Dr. Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams (1814-1899), a physician and member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York, who in 1857 set the bases at 90 feet apart and nine players as a team, fixed the pitching distance at 45 feet, and advocated tirelessly for the fly game (seeking to eliminate the rule that outs be registered with catches on the first bounce). Adams added the position of shortstop to relay throws from the outfield and later to become a part of the infield. “Dr. D.L. Adams; Memoirs of the Father of Base Ball; He Resides in New Haven and Retains an Interest in the Game” (The Sporting News, Feb. 29, 1896 headline). “For his role in making baseball the success it is, Doc Adams may be counted as first among the Fathers of Baseball.” (John Thorn, Total Baseball, 8th ed., 2004). See also John Thorn, Elysian Fields Quarterly, Winter 1992.
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