Doubleday myth
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.
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.
[2] 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.
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.
[1] 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"; his audience of about 300 responded by shouting "No rounders!
[9] 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.
[13] 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.
[22] His report gave Doubleday credit for inventing the game of baseball and said that the sport was American in origin,[23] listing 1839 as the year of its creation.
[20] 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.
[25] 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.
[27] 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.
[31] 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.
NL president John Heydler offered his backing for Cooperstown's efforts to purchase the grounds where Doubleday was said to have created baseball.
[37] 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.
[38] 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.
[38] (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.
)[39] 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.
[41] After the release of Mills' report, which was published in the 1908 version of Spalding's Guide, the belief that Doubleday had invented baseball "gained currency among the general public" in the U.S., according to author Brian Martin.
[46] Also in 1909, The Sporting News' founder, Alfred Henry Spink, received a letter from sportswriter William M. Rankin, which called the Doubleday claims false, citing United States Department of War and West Point records, and said that the New York Knickerbockers had invented baseball in 1845.
Sportswriter Frank Menke, who believed that baseball evolved from cricket, authored the book Encyclopedia of Sports, in which he published the report from the Mills Commission and critiqued it.
[52] Graves also expressed anti-English sentiments in a letter to the Mills Commission,[20] writing, "Just in my present mood I would rather have Uncle Sam declare war on England and clean her up rather than have one of her citizens beat us out of Base Ball.
In addition, 1839 was called the year of the game's creation by Mills when 1841 was also a possibility according to Graves,[54] who had written that the invention occurred before or after the 1840 presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison, during the spring months.
[46] Doubleday himself made only one mention of baseball in his letters or diaries before his 1893 death; the only time the sport appears in his papers dates from 1871, when he penned a request for equipment.
[56] While denying that the Doubleday family factored into baseball's creation, fellow historian Peter Morris noted that it is "conceivable that Graves's recollections had some slim basis in fact.
Tim Arango of The New York Times wrote that the story "has taken a position in the pantheon of great American myths, alongside George Washington's cherry tree, Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.
It was an ordinance from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which banned baseball from being played within 80 yards of a meeting house in the city; this implies that the game already existed at the time.
[68]The Hall states that Cooperstown is "representative" of the location of baseball's birthplace, although Doubleday Field has a plaque and sign that repeat the myth's claims.
