REMINDER: If you’re in the area, The Mountain Athletic Base Ball Club will be making “A Pitch For Doc Adams” on this Saturday, October 19, 2024 while hosting the Delhi Polecats at historic Fleischmanns Athletic Grounds on Wagner Ave, Fleischmanns, NY. The event will showcase nearly 40 years of baseball evolution in a progressive format starting in the year 1858 and finishing in 1895, The first pitch will be at noon.

Without Doc, baseball as we know it, would look very different and for this man’s honor, we will play a progressive game starting in 1858 (the era of Doc) and completing in 1895 rules (the era of the MAC).

Come and support Doc Adams for the Hall of Fame and learn more about this wonderful baseball pioneer. Each team will have an honorary captain representing the Knickerbocker Experience – a re-creation of the original Knickerbocker Base Ball Club uniform from 1859.

“A Pitch For Doc Adams – Polecat Base Ball Club vs. Mountain M.A.C.”, Mountain Athletic Club Vintage Base Ball

This event will be the capstone of the “A Pitch for Doc Adams” series of events where the Vintage Base Ball community rallied behind long-overlooked baseball pioneer Doc Adams. This series of events was geared to raise awareness of baseball pioneer, Doc Adams, and his Hall of Fame case.

Clubs across the country hosted mid-19th century style base ball games to raise awareness of the many contributions Daniel Lucius Adams, MD (aka “Doc”) to our National Pastime during its nascent period who played a pioneering role in the foundation of modern baseball and is eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2025 Classic Baseball Era ballot. A short video in support of Doc Adams’ Hall of Fame case was also produced from folks participating in these events.

“Making a pitch for Doc Adams here in Delaware County makes a lot of sense,” said Collin Miller, Captain of the Mountain Athletic Club. “We had baseball here well before before 1825, so the game Doc grew up playing in rural New England back then eventually developed into the game we play today. He’s woven through the fabric of our game in several unique ways and should be formally recognized as such with a plaque in the Hall of Fame. We’re trying very hard to communicate that through these events while playing the game as it would’ve looked like in 1858, the year after Doc’s writing of The Laws of Base Ball.”

Collin Miller, Mountain Athletic Club Vintage Base Ball Club

This event will take place at historic M.A.C. Grounds at Fleischmanns Park.

Fashioned after the original team established in Griffin Corners, New York in 1895 by yeast magnates Julius and Max Fleischmann, the Mountain Athletic Club connects generations to the National pastime through authentic play according to the rules and customs of nineteenth-century base ball. The M.A.C. Grounds at Fleischmanns Park is listed on the New York State & National Register of Historic Places.

Mountain Athletic Club Vintage Base Ball

Kudos to Collin “Stumpy” Miller of the Mountain Athletic Club for conceiving and coordinating this effort, Tom Fesolowich for pulling together this video, and to all who answered Collin’s call to action.