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| Photo: CBS Los Angeles |
Peter Solari Follow @4PeteSakeNY
Just in time for baseball season, a set of history-changing documents have been put up for auction in Los Angeles, that change everything we thought we knew, about America's pastime, including when it was founded and by whom.
"Laws of Base Ball" was written and published by Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams, president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, in 1857, and established rules that still exist to this day, including 90-foot base-paths, nine players per team, and nine inning games. Until the emergence of these documents, Alexander Cartwright was credited with founding modern baseball in 1860, as is honored with a plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, for doing so.
The documents were authenticated by multiple experts, including John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official historian, who told the Associated Press, "He's (Adams) the true father of baseball and you've never heard of him."
Of the importance of these documents, Thorn said they came at a time when the rules of the game were frivolous, and suggested the game could have progressed into something unrecognizable today, without them.
Thorn also said that historical accounts have implied that Adams founded baseball in 1857, but nothing as concrete as "Laws of Base Ball."
Brad Horn, a spokesman for the Baseball Hall of Fame, said there were currently no plans to remove or alter Cartwright's plaque, or to acknowledge Adams.
"Laws of Base Ball" were put for sale by SPC Auctions in Southern California, on Wednesday. The auction is scheduled to end on April 23.
