When Doc Adams set to work in late 1856, none of these aspects of the game were settled,” said Thorn. “This was some seven years after Cartwright had left New York for Hawaii, never to return. For his role in making baseball the success it is, Doc Adams may now be counted as first among the Founding Fathers of Baseball.

“Discovery of 1857 Baseball Documents Could Rewrite History of the Game’s Invention“, SCP Auctions

No evidence exists for Abner Doubleday’s having anything to do with baseball. There is, on the other hand, sufficient evidence to connect Cartwright with baseball. However, in light of interviews with other former New York Knickerbockers — Daniel Adams, Duncan Curry, and William Wheaton — uncovered in recent years, Cartwright’s alleged pivotal role has been questioned.

Alexander Cartwright, SABR Bio Project, Monica Nucciarone

 That February night in Newark in 1849, General John Stevens Darcy toasted to the future fortunes of the Newark Overland Company, which in little more than a fortnight would be embarking west for California. Of the approximately forty-one men from New Jersey and New York who composed this gold-dust-seeking group, Cartwright was one of three New Yorker, along with several other men from Newark. Cartwright left behind two children and a wife who, by then, was about two months pregnant with their third child. Meanwhile, Alexander’s brother Alfred had also decided to head west to become a forty-niner, but he would travel by boat around the tip of South America to reach the West Coast.

“Alexander Cartwright : The Life Behind The Baseball Legend”, Monic Nucciarone

But Cartwright assuredly did not do any of the three central things credited to him on his plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame: “Set bases 90 feet apart. Established 9 innings as a game and 9 players as a team.” He also did not create the 45-foot pitching distance, nor the requirement that a ball be caught on the fly to register an out, nor a system for calling balls and strikes.

Doc Adams, SABR Bio Project, John Thorn

He is baseball’s most important figure not in the Hall of Fame… With the recent discovery of his “Laws of Base Ball” we have tangible primary evidence of his genius. More than anyone else, he created our game of nine innings, nine men, and ninety-foot base paths.

John Thorn on Doc Adams, “5 Inventors”, Our Game (July 26, 2021)

Laws of Base Ball

The Convention met together shortly after the hour appointed, and being satisfied with each other’s personal appearance, (justly so, for most of them were splendid looking fellows), the delegates proceeded to elect a President and officers, when the following were appointed:

President – Dr. D. L. Adams, of the Knickerbocker …

Base Ball, “Young New York” In Convention, Porter’s Spirit of the Times (January 1, 1857)
1st Base Ball Convention

“That title of ‘Father of Base Ball’ is out of place. Base [Ball] like Topsy ‘never had no fader’; it growed up.”

Henry Chadwick in letter to Doc Adams (August 16, 1898)