The Doubleday myth is the claim that the sport of baseball was invented in 1839 by the future American Civil War general Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York. In response to a dispute over whether baseball originated in the United States or was a variation of the British game rounders, the Mills Commission was formed in 1905 to seek out evidence. Mining engineer Abner Graves authored a letter claiming that Doubleday invented baseball. The letter was published in a newspaper and eventually used by the Mills Commission to support its finding that the game was of American origin. In 1908, it named Doubleday the creator of baseball.
The claim initially received a favorable reception from Americans, but eventually garnered criticism from various writers. Modern baseball historians consider the myth to be false. Graves' testimony has been critiqued in various regards, as the details of his story and his reliability as a witness have been questioned, and the Mills Commission made departures from his letter in its report. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was built in the town where Graves said the game was created, Cooperstown. The legend is well known among fans of the sport.
Background
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a dispute arose about the origins of baseball and whether it had been invented in the United States or developed as a variation of rounders, a game played in Great Britain and Ireland. The game had found increasing popularity in the U.S. after the rise of professional baseball during the 1860s and 1870s, and immigrants were composing a higher percentage of players, in particular those of Irish descent. The theory that the sport was created in the U.S. was backed by Chicago Cubs president Albert Spalding and National League (NL) president Abraham G. Mills. In 1889, Mills gave a speech during a banquet to honor the Chicago team and a group of NL all-stars, both of which had participated in a world tour to promote the game. During his remarks at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City, Mills declared that baseball was strictly American, which he said was determined through "patriotism and research"; many of his audience of about 300 responded by shouting "No rounders!"
The rounders theory was supported by prominent sportswriter Henry Chadwick, a native of Britain who noted common factors between rounders and baseball in a 1903 article. Like baseball, rounders features nine-player teams, fields with four bases, and clubs alternately batting during a selected number of innings. In contrast to baseball, in which bags are used for bases, rounders games utilize sticks; another key difference between the games is that foul balls do not occur in rounders. Chadwick said in his piece that "There is no doubt whatever as to base ball having originated from the two-centuries-old English game of rounders." Spalding disputed Chadwick's article in the next version of his Spalding Base Ball Guide.
In 1905, Spalding called for an investigation into how the sport was invented. Chadwick supported the idea, and later in the year a commission was formed. Spalding instructed the commission to decide between the American game of "Old Cat" and rounders as baseball's predecessor. Seven men served on the commission, including Mills. Spalding chose the committee's members, picking men who supported his theory and excluding supporters of the rounders claim, such as Chadwick. The committee sought information on the beginnings of the sport from members of the public, soliciting feedback in publications. It received numerous letters, primarily from former players. Many of the details they provided pertained to early variations of baseball, but evidence supporting Spalding's theory was lacking. On April 1, 1905, the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper published an article by Spalding that asked for details on the beginnings of the game to be sent to Amateur Athletic Union president James Sullivan, who was responsible for compiling information and presenting it to the commission. Spalding called the rounders theory "pap" and wrote that he would "refuse to swallow any more of it without some substantial proof sauce with it."
Letter by Abner Graves In response to Spalding's request for information on early baseball in the Beacon Journal, mining engineer Abner Graves of Denver, Colorado, wrote a letter to the editor stating that he had seen Abner Doubleday create a diagram of a baseball field. Doubleday (1819–1893) was a career United States Army officer who attained the rank of major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
According to Graves' letter, Doubleday set up the first baseball game in Cooperstown, New York, in approximately 1839. The letter, dated April 3, stated that Doubleday had invented baseball as a modified version of town ball, with four bases on the field and batters who attempted to hit tosses from a pitcher standing in a six-foot ring. According to Graves, the first game had matched players from "Otesego academy and Green's Select school". In his letter, Graves claimed that he and Doubleday were both students at Green's school. Graves' description of Doubleday's game indicated that each team had 11 players: the pitcher, a catcher, three infielders by the bases, two further infielders who covered the areas between the bases, and four outfielders. It listed the names of seven players from an early game that Graves claimed to have seen. The April 4 edition of the Beacon Journal included the first story that described Graves' Doubleday claims, with a headline that read, "Abner Doubleday Invented Base Ball".
The topic received coverage in the Sporting Life newspaper later in 1905. Spalding wrote a letter to Graves asking for evidence to back up his claim; Graves responded by sending a diagram matching the one he said Doubleday had drawn, along with a letter stating that the original had not been preserved and that most of the players at the time were no longer alive. This correspondence stated that the initial game took place between 1839 and 1841. Although Graves was unable to provide further evidence to back his claims, Spalding supported his version of events. The members of the Mills Commission received the available evidence in October 1907, and Mills wrote a report to Sullivan summarizing the findings on December 30. His report gave Doubleday credit for inventing the game of baseball and said that the sport was American in origin, listing 1839 as the year of its creation. Mills said that he understood why Doubleday would make changes to town ball, reducing the number of players in an effort to decrease the risk of injury. He noted that the number of players per team was higher than the nine in modern baseball, but explained this by indicating that he had taken part in games with 11 players per side. Additionally, Mills wrote that he thought Doubleday might have created the modern defensive putout system, which replaced the town ball method in which fielders could hit baserunners with thrown balls to record outs, even though Graves' testimony did not make this claim.
No one else on the committee sent any material to Sullivan after receiving the documentation; one member, Arthur Pue Gorman, had died. The surviving commission members were sent the letter by Mills, which was signed by each of them. Spalding later used the report's acceptance of the Doubleday myth to claim U.S. origins in his baseball history book, America's National Game. Graves' name did not appear in the book; Spalding said that the Doubleday content had come from "a circumstantial statement by a reputable gentleman", quoting Mills, and that he had "nothing to add to [the commission's] report." In his book, Spalding expressed delight that an American Army general had been found to be baseball's creator.
A reporter for The Denver Post interviewed Graves for a 1912 article, which contained a version of the Doubleday story that varied from what had been given to the Mills Commission in several respects. Graves placed the year of the first game as 1840, one year later than Mills had reported. In the interview, he said that he had played in the game, as a "Green College" student. No university of that name in Cooperstown is known to have been in existence. Graves was possibly referencing Major Duff's Classical and Military Academy, an elementary school whose pupils were nicknamed "Duff's Greens", which could have been the source for Graves' previous identification of "Green's Select" school. The college claim contradicted a previous letter in which he said he had been at Frog Hollow School, another elementary school, when baseball was created by Doubleday. The reporter did not question Graves' account, which included a statement that the 78-year-old was preparing to play in a local exhibition game. Graves again claimed to have taken part in the first game in a 1916 letter published in The Freeman's Journal.
Creation of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was built in the village that served as the location of Doubleday's alleged first game, Cooperstown, New York. An article in the 1920 edition of the Spalding Baseball Guide supported the idea of a monument to Doubleday in Cooperstown. NL president John Heydler offered his backing for Cooperstown's efforts to purchase the grounds where Doubleday was said to have created baseball. In 1923, the village succeeded in buying the property. A baseball stadium—Doubleday Field—was erected there. Around 1934, a baseball said to be from Graves' family was found and purchased by Stephen Carlton Clark, a powerful figure in Cooperstown who created an exhibit in what became the National Baseball Museum around it. The concept of a baseball museum was supported by new NL president Ford Frick, who suggested that a Hall of Fame be created in connection with it. The Hall was subsequently built in Cooperstown. Clark's purchase came to be known as the "Doubleday ball", as the belief arose that it was used by him.
A committee from the New York State Legislature traveled to Cooperstown in 1937, and its subsequent report declared that the town was "the birthplace of baseball" and recommended a 100th anniversary celebration in 1939; events that were held included the dedication of the Hall and an all-star game. Prior to the ceremonies, the Doubleday claims were criticized by multiple parties: author Robert Henderson wrote that rounders and baseball were related, and Alexander Cartwright's son Bruce reported that his father had invented the sport. (Some sources have reported that fourteen years later, in 1953, the United States Congress formally recognized Cartwright as the inventor of modern baseball, but no documentation of such a declaration exists in the Congressional Record.) As part of Bruce Cartwright's efforts, the manager of Honolulu's Chamber of Commerce sent Hall promoter Alexander Cleland a letter that questioned Graves' account. In response, Cleland promised that a "Cartwright Day" would be included in the anniversary events at Cooperstown, which went ahead as scheduled.
Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour Mills wrote, "Some sports columnists pointed out the discrepancy; others got around it as gracefully as possible." The United States Postal Service marked the anniversary by releasing a commemorative stamp, which did not feature an image of Doubleday. The Hall's day honoring Cartwright was held in the summer of 1939. By this time, Cartwright was a member of the Hall; in 1938, the Centennial Committee had elected him. The honor came weeks after Clark had investigated Doubleday's role in baseball's origins in response to the Cartwright reports.
Reception Contemporary reactions