Baseball may have a new historic start
LOS ANGELES — Modern baseball may have found its birth certificate. And with it a new birth date, and new founding father.
Coinciding with the start of the major league season, a set of game-changing documents went up for sale this week. Their authenticity and significance are verified by experts including John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian.
The 1857 documents titled “Laws of Base Ball” establish the essentials of the modern game: The distance of the base paths is 90 feet, the length of the game is nine innings and nine players are in the field.
And they do it three years earlier than the 1860 birth date now recognized.
The documents were authored by Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, making him the founding father of America’s pastime, not Alexander Cartwright, who now is credited.
“He’s the true father of baseball and you’ve never heard of him,” Thorn, a consultant on the sale of the papers, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Southern California-based SCP Auctions put the documents on sale Wednesday in an auction that lasts until April 23. There have been five bids so far and the current highest bid is $146,410, according to the auction house.
Adams was the president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, which hosted a convention of 14 New York-area clubs to codify the rules of “Base Ball.” (It was two words then and in ensuing decades evolved into “base-ball” and finally “baseball.”)
METS: Eager to celebrate a scintillating 2015 season with their rejuvenated fans, Curtis Granderson, David Wright and the rest of the Mets face Philadelphia in their home opener today. Former pennant-winning stars Rusty Staub, John Franco and Edgardo Alfonzo will be on hand to hoist the National League Championship banner during a pregame ceremony.
“I can’t wait,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “To be in front of the best fans in the world and to be able to share a great year last year with all of them and to see that flag go up is going to be pretty magical.”
Once all the pomp and festivities are finished, the Mets finally get to play someone other than Kansas City. They’re just not sure who’s going to pitch.
Jacob deGrom was scheduled to start, a fitting choice after he won 17 games last season — including three in the playoffs. But his wife is due this week with their first child, and deGrom planned to head for home in Florida whenever she went into labor.
ASTROS: Houston sent right-hander Michael Feliz to the minors, a day after he threw 107 pitches in relief.
Righty Chris Devenski, who hasn’t pitched above Double-A, was selected to the Houston roster. He had been scheduled to start hours later for Triple-A Fresno in the season opener. Feliz was optioned to Triple-A.
REDS: Second baseman Brandon Phillips stayed home with a stomach virus that caused him to be scratched from Wednesday’s lineup. Former Lobo Jordan Pacheco started in his place, the fourth time in his major league career that he has started at second. Catcher Devin Mesoraco, CF Billy Hamilton and SS Zack Cozart, all coming off operations that cut short their 2015 seasons, also did not start Thursday.