Abraham G. Mills

He participated in a well-attended Christmas Day baseball game at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina in 1862 between the 165th New York Volunteer Infantry and nine other soldiers from other Union Army regiments.

Mills attacked the questionable ethics of the practice in a newspaper article and outlined a plan to prevent the raiding of non-league teams.

William Hulbert, then president of the NL, noticed the article and solicited Mills for his advice on drafting an official solution, which resulted in the "League Alliance" (1877).

Mills' primary objective as president sought to prevent players from switching from one professional league to the next, which they typically did during mid-season in search of higher salaries.

In 1888, Mills called an assembly of representatives from the three professional leagues—the National League, American Association, and Northwestern League—in what was dubbed as the "Harmony Conference."

Unsurprisingly, the agreement was unpopular with players, who organized to form a new league for the 1884 season, the Union Association, which did not recognize the reserve rule or salary limitations.

The dinner, held at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York, was attended by an eclectic and prestigious crowd of 300 guests, among them Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt.

In response, Spalding, who believed baseball was a fundamentally American invention, published an article disputing Chadwick's claim and challenged him by suggesting that they appoint a commission to settle the matter.

Reach and George Wright, well known sporting goods distributors and two of the most famous players of their day; and James Edward Sullivan, president of the Amateur Athletic Union.

The commission, through a series of nationally distributed publications, requested any American who had any knowledge concerning the origins of baseball to come forward.

According to Graves' account, Doubleday was responsible for improving a local version of "Town Ball" being played by students of the Otsego Academy and Green's Select School in Cooperstown, New York.