Henry Chadwick, The Father of Baseball

By Zach Hand

The Lineup

Early Life

Career in Journalism

The Game of Base Ball

Later Life and Death

Legacy

Other Works

Sample Article

Credits

Early Life

Born in Exeter England in 1824

Played a game called Rounders, similar to baseball

Moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1837

Enjoyed playing piano and earned money teaching it

Career in Journalism

Began reporting for the Long Island Star in 1844

Became a Cricket Writer for the New York Times in the 1850s

Joined the New York Clipper in 1857

Also worked for the Brooklyn Eagle and many other newspapers

The Game of Base Ball

Watched his first game between the Gotham and Eagle teams in 1856 at Elysian Fields in New Jersey

Believed he could make baseball “America’s Game”

Worked to publish articles about the game in the news

Later Life and Death

Worked as editor of Spalding Official Base Ball Guide in 1880sNever stopped believing baseball was of English origins, despite what was regarded as true at the timeBecame ill after attending two opening day games in 1908Died two weeks later of pneumonia at age 83Buried with wife in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn

Legacy

Invented the baseball box score to aid in reporting of games

One of the first to keep stats of homeruns, hits and total bases

Created the phrase “In the best interests of baseball”

Fought against gambling and drinking in baseball

Helped establish the distance between the pitcher’s mound and home plate

Enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938

Other Works

Wrote baseball’s first rulebookEdited first baseball guide, Beadle’s Dime Baseball PlayerFirst to compile a listing of all baseball players by height and weightCollected the first baseball statistics which are used today by baseball historians

Sample Article

This article appeared in Base Ball Memoranda, it describes an early game:

A Base Ball tourney had been held in Chicago on July 4, 1867, in which the Excelsiors of that city and the Forest City Club, of Rockford, had been the leading contestants. The former had defeated the Forest City nine in two games, by the very close scores of 45-41 in one, and 28-25 in another, when the Forest Citys were invited to meet the Nationals at Chicago on July 25th, a day which proved the most notable of the tour. The contest took place at Dexter Park, before a vast crowd of spectators, the majority of whom looked to see the Nationals have almost a walk-over. In the game A. G. Spalding was pitcher and Ross Barnes shortstop for the Forest City nine; these two afterwards becoming famous as star players of the Boston professional team of the early seventies. Williams was pitcher for the Nationals and Frank Norton catcher. The Nationals took the lead in the first innings by 3 to 2; but in the next two innings they added but five runs to their score, while the Forest Citys added thirteen to theirs, thereby taking the lead by a score of fifteen to eight, to the great surprise of the crowd and the delight of the Rockfords. The Nationals tried hard to recover the lost ground. The final result, however, was the success of the Forest Citys by a score of 29 to 23 in a nine innings game, twice interrupted by rain

Credits

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http://rlv.zcache.com/official_baseball_guide_1913_poster-

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