James Herring was born in 1822 in Haverstraw, New York, which is just outside of New York City along the Hudson River. His father had immigrated from Ireland and worked hard to support his family. Although James admired his father's work ethic, he didn't want to spend his life at the brickyards along the Hudson. James worked in business as a merchant, but then turned to education and became a teacher. James later became a professor at a local college and as he started his own family, he moved up the educational ranks as an administrator.
James managed to avoid being drafted during the war between the Union and the Confederacy, paying a sum of $25 to the draft board to do so. After the war, the economy in the North was booming, as most of the fighting and destruction took place in the South. The business of education was good and getting better. Education had been good to James, but by 1870, with his wife and eight children at home, he was looking to improve their financial well being. James had made friends with a number of coworkers over the years and a couple of these friends had done very well for themselves and were presidents of their respective universities.
In early 1870, Jamie Hebebrand, President of Columbia University and Chris Hellerich, President of Fordham University, had approached James with a proposal. They told him about how baseball was becoming more and more popular and universities were looking to put together an association to regulate the schools in baseball competitions. James was intrigued, as his own sons had taken an interest in baseball. He was told the association would be independent of the universities and it would need a commissioner to rule over it and keep the playing field level and fair for all of the schools who would participate in it. Since the association would be based in New York City, Hebebrand and Hellerich wanted a local administrator who could be trusted to be impartial. Of course, James’ nomination would have to be approved by the other university presidents and his removal from office could only be with a ¾ vote. After listening to the proposal, James felt like he had the opportunity he was looking for. The salary was more than he had imagined, but with it came great responsibility.
In the summer of 1870, James Herring was elected over the other nominees for the position of Commissioner of the Collegiate Baseball Association. He had a lot to do, as the universities wanted play to begin in March of 1871. There were a total of 14 schools across multiple states. James and the universities agreed on a 60 game schedule to be played from mid-March to mid-June. They approved James’ proposal of placing the 14 schools into three regions of play, with scheduling to focus on the majority of games being against regional schools. Also approved was the proposal of each regional winner, plus one wild card team, to make the playoffs, with the winner of two of three games advancing. The final team standing would be crowned National Champions of Collegiate Baseball.
As March of 1871 came around, James was nervously awaiting the results of his work. The first season of Collegiate baseball was about to begin. Would it be a great success, or a horrible failure? Only time would tell, but success or failure was the least of his concerns, as James was at home with his wife and their newborn son. He had made it through the first eight months as Commissioner and was happy with what he had accomplished. Only three university presidents concerned him. His friend Jamie Hebebrand, Gary Weaver of Cornell University and Danny Hickman of Harvard. All three men were very demanding and were expecting results quickly. Keeping these men happy would be key to the association’s success.