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DOC ADAMS RETIRES, SELLS KNICKERBOCKERS
HAD RUN KNICKS SINCE 1847; HELPED DEVELOP GROUND RULES OF BASEBALL

Manhattan (Oct. 13, 1902) – One of the biggest transactions in the history of pro baseball took place on Monday, as Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams retired from his position as Owner & Chairman of the Manhattan Knickerbockers and sold the team to local industrialist Marvin Graham. Adams figured that since he was about to turn 88 years old he should “probably slow himself down a bit”.

(Creator’s Notes: In real life, Doc Adams did nearly live until the 1900s, passing away early in 1899 at the age of 84. However, he wasn’t involved with the Knickerbocker club for his entire life, leaving his roles in baseball in March of 1862. After retiring from the sport, among other things he was a Connecticut State Congressman, a doctor, the President of a bank, helped found a library, and continued following the sport of baseball closely. Near the end of his life, Adams was quoted as saying, “"We pioneers never expected to see the game so universal as it has now become."

An original edition of “The Laws of Base Ball” confirmed to have been authored by Adams was auctioned for over three million dollars in 2016, a record for baseball-related documents)

Doc Adams had been involved with the Manhattan Knickerbockers since their inception as Knickerbocker BBC in 1845, first as a player and then as their second president in 1847, succeeding Alexander Cartwright. Before that, he played for New York BBC from 1837 to 1845. After becoming President of Knickerbocker, he used his executive power to help develop some of the basic ground rules of baseball. Among them:

• Nine men becoming the official size of the starting lineup for an organized team

• Games had occasionally been played with 7-8 men per team up to that point

• Games ending after nine innings if one team was ahead

• Previously the first team to score 21 runs was declared the winner

• The first regulations on bat & ball sizes
• The first official prohibitions against gambling on baseball by players or umpires
• Fixing the bases at a set distance of 30 yards, or 90 feet, from each other

• The distance was originally set at “42 paces”, but was realized as too vague

• Setting the first official distance of the pitcher’s position from home plate

• Originally 15 yards, or 45 feet

• The introduction of strikes

• Meant to reduce pitches and game time

• Changing how hitters could be put out by removing the “Bound Rule”

• Meant fielders would have to catch a ball on the fly, similar to cricket, instead of after one bounce to retire a batter
• Met resistance but was adopted in the 1860s

• Writing the first book of baseball rules & regulations, titled “The Laws of Base Ball”
• While a player: along with others, helped to invent the position of shortstop

After doing all the above, he continued to run the Knickerbocker club for almost another half-century, from the creation of the first organized amateur leagues through the creation of the first professional league, and all the way through to the first championship series between teams from different regions of the United States.

It’s only fitting that Adams’ final Knicks team had the best record in professional baseball and won the second edition of the President’s Cup, as it appeared to all to be the culmination of his life’s work. The club was very influential in the NBBO but never won the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. They won the APBL twice before the creation of the APBL President’s Cup, and then won it four times in six years (1886-91). They took their seventh APBL title this past year, and beat Milwaukee in a memorable PC after Providence won the maiden edition of the professional championship series the previous year.

In 46 years of organized, competitive baseball under the leadership of Doc Adams, Knickerbocker BBC & the Manhattan Knickerbockers finished under .500 eleven times, with only four of those happing over the 27-season span since 1875. To match the club’s success on the field the Knicks have been one of pro baseball’s most financially successful teams off it, and to top it off the team’s home stadium of the Elysian Fields can stake a claim to be the first seated venue dedicated solely to the sport of baseball.

From helping usher in the first formal standards for the sport of baseball, to its first organized competition, to its first professional competition, to the sport’s development nationwide, Doc Adams’ influence on the sport will never be forgotten. If there is to be a pantheon for baseball, Adams may well be one of its primordial figures.