Doc Adams for Hall of Fame

Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams was born in New Hampshire in 1814. While serving as a practicing physician in New York City, he signed on with the Knickerbocker Baseball club and created and developed what we know now as the shortstop position. He served as the President of the club for six terms.

Doc also made all the baseballs for the club and supervised the making of all the bats. Between 1853 and 1858 he was chair of the rules committee for the conventions of the New York City and Brooklyn Baseball Clubs. He advocated for the base paths to be 90 feet, the pitcher’s mound to be 45 feet from home plate and for a game to be 9 innings long with nine players on each team. He was way ahead of his time.

On Monday April 24th Marjorie Adams, the great-granddaughter of Doc Adam, shared his story with our club. It was fascinating to hear her tell of this man and the interesting life he lived. His contributions to the game many of us know and love today are numerous. Yet he is all but forgotten. Marjorie suggested going to his website and signing the online petition at www.DocAdamsBaseBall.org. You can also learn more by going to the Facebook page. You can find it at www.facebook.com/DanielLuciusDocAdams.