Doc Adams -- The Real Father Of Baseball

Doc Adams -- The Real Father Of Baseball

When a movement gains inertia and begins to take hold often the promotional people step in and embellish the background story. Sometimes these folks create a story out of thin air especially when facts are missing in the historical record. So, it was for baseball and the myth of Abner Doubleday as its founder. The legend sounds good but alas it is pure fiction.

But as we all know; the truth eventually comes out even when it is denied. Enter Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams. His career in baseball begins as a player for the New York Knickerbockers in 1840. Over the years, not only did he create the shortstop position, but he became an equipment innovator by manufacturing baseballs and bats that met strict production standards.

Why Cooperstown has not publicly backtracked and admitted its fib about Doubleday is bad enough but to actively conceal one of the key fathers of the game (Adams) is even worse. In fact, it’s beyond shameful. Even when the knowledge about Adams began to surface in the 1980s, the Hall of Fame remained mute. This became even more disturbing when a share of the New York Mets was purchased by Nelson Doubleday, Jr., who was a direct descendant of you-know-who. No rocking of the boat with that baseball crowd.

From 1847 to 1861, the New York Knickerbockers baseball squad selected Adams as their president six times which positioned him as an advocate for rule changes. Under his direction, a baseball game consisted of nine-man teams, nine-inning games and bases 90 feet apart. He eliminated the "bound rule,” which allowed for balls caught after one bounce to be recorded as outs.

No doubt Adams had an interesting life even outside his significant contribution to baseball. A learned man, he was a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Medical School and practiced medicine in New York City (hence his nickname of “Doc”). In 1865 he had a mid-life crisis of sorts and became a bank president, wrote a popular mathematics book used in middle school and even had a stint in the Connecticut Legislature.

In 1846, he was one of those who participated in the famed intramural baseball game at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. He later authored baseball’s first great codified playing manual, “The Laws of Baseball” in 1858.

But, back to the lackeys in Cooperstown. Doc’s name did not even appear on a Baseball Hall of Fame ballot until 2016, when he was up for consideration by the Hall's Pre-Integration Committee. Only ten of the sixteen committee members supported him which was as one might expect, two short of an intelligent decision.

But hope remains eternal. Marjorie Adams’ who was the great-grand daughter of Doc Adams, conducted a life-long one (wo)man campaign to set history right. Her goal was to see Adams recognized with enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Marjorie lost a long battle with cancer in 2021. However, her many friends and baseball history converts she met along the way have vowed to continue the struggle. Please, visit www.docadamsbaseball.org for more information.