Abner Doubleday

SUMMARY: This offering is a SIGNATURE with military rank on a slip of paper: $975.00

 

Abner Doubleday(1819-1893). American Union Civil War General and early baseball pioneer.Doubleday was at Fort Sumter when the first shot was fired and he is claimed to have aimed the first gun at the Confederates. Whether that is true or not Doubleday went on to fight in many campaigns including Gettysburg where he assumed a command of I Corps when general John Reynolds was killed.General Meade then immediately replaced Doubleday with a more junior commander- a real snub to Doubleday.Therefore, throughout the remainder of his military career he was at odds with General George Meade who apparently had little regard for his leadership skills.AD's nickname in the Union army was "48 hours."

 

For many years Doubleday was credited with having been the 'inventor' of modern baseball. According to legend he developed the game in the fields near Cooperstown, NY. Part of this credit derived from an eyewitness account through a letter from one of his friends that detailed how Abner Doubleday was the first to lay out the diamond shape of the playing field, etc. Based upon this rather tenuous information and other early recountings, some of which may have been apocryphal, Doubleday was given the imprimatur of "The Inventor of Baseball" even though the history of the game apparently had not been subjected to rigorous examination when that occurred. Some believe that various early baseball entrepreneurs wanted to dissociate the game from anything English and they used Doubleday to that end. Subsequent historical review by several different groups casts doubt on whether Doubleday should in fact be credited with 'inventing' baseball or even, as a matter of fact, whether he actually contributed anything of substance to the game. Rather, baseball historians now believe that Alexander Cartwright had more to do with codifying the rules of play, organizing early teams, etc, etc. than any other single individual. And there is Henry Chadwick the noted jounalist who introduced the box score and various statistical benchmarks such as the batting average so he is considered a major contributor to the evolution of the game. But , as so often is the case, the exact truth concerning who contributed what to American baseball in utero will probably never be known. One thing is perfectly clear now and that is baseball in our country evolved from the English game of 'rounders', a stick and ball game that was played throughout the north in the early 1800's. Of course, stick and ball games go back to much earlier civilizations-to whit, English cricket. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that there were many contributors to shaping what eventually became modern baseball and most of those contributors will be forever anonymous. Most historians now believe that a game the beginning history of which dates back hundreds of years or more and which evolved from the play of amateurs in the streets and the fields undoubtedly had many fathers including possibly both Doubleday and Cartwright at least to some degree. It is therefore fatuous to credit one person versus another with this or that regarding the origins of modern baseball. Suffice it to say that both Abner Doubleday (Doubleday Field at Cooperstown) and Alexander Cartwright will always be linked to the beginnings of the American game of baseball as we now know it as will others unnamed. And, most probably, the historical debate about who contributed what to the game will not end soon.

 

This offering is a slip of paper cut from a larger document that is signed in ink as A,. Doubleday, Major Genl. Vol.,U.S. Army, n.p.,n.d.. The paper is affixed to a 3 in x 5 in card. There are a few odd numbers on the paper that appear to have been some type of stamp but they do not affect the signature.The signature is in overall excellent condition.The signature is accompanied by an image of Doubleday for framing.It should be noted that examples of Doubleday's writing are sought after by both baseball collectors as well as Civil War Buffs and his letters have sold for or do sell for thousands of dollars. He is one of a handful of Americans who have attained historical prominence in more than one field in a lifetime.His autograph is sold with a nice image or photo for framing.

 

Also included in this lot is a beautiful FDC commemerating the 100th anniversary of the game of baseball. The FDC is postmarked june 12, 1939.

The autograph comes with a letter of authenticity as to its origin, history and authenticity.

Price: $975.00