National Association

Alexander Cartwright

By Patrick Mondout

Alexander Joy "Alick" Cartwright, Jr. was a bank clerk and a member of the first organized baseball club, the Knickerbocker Club of New York. He has been given credit for the invention of the rules of baseball largely as a result of the posthumous efforts of his grandson.

At a glance... ALEXANDER CARTWRIGHT Hall of Fame Facts Born April 17, 1820 New York, NY Died July 12, 1892 Honolulu, HA Inducted 1938 Executive/Pioneer Affiliations 1843?-1848 Knickerbockers Plaque "Father of Modern Base Ball" Set bases 90 feet apart. Established 9 innings as game and 9 players as team. Organized the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of N.Y. in 1845. Carried Baseball to Pacific Coast and Hawaii in Pioneer Days.

Alexander Cartwright created the rules of baseball, including setting the bases 90 feet apart and having 9 players to a side, and taught Americans from New York to San Francisco (including "Indians" in Missouri) how to play the game during his transcontinental trip across the U.S. in 1849.

The remarkable thing about the sentence above is that none of it is true. While the Doubleday Myth has been known to be false for nearly 100 years now, most baseball fans who consider themselves knowledgeable still accept the Cartwright Myth. Though it has been done elsewhere and doubtless more cogently, let me attempt to set the Cartwright record straight. Let's start with some background from right around the time he started playing with the club that would soon call itself the Knickerbockers.

See also: National Association of Base Ball Players, 'Early Baseball' FAQs.

Cartwright was a clerk at the Union Bank in New York City beginning in 1836 at the tender age of 16. He was also a volunteer with the "Knickerbocker" Engine Company No. 12, which disbanded in 1843. It has been suggested that this was the origin of the nickname for the baseball club, but many things in the Empire state were called "Knickerbocker" before, during, and after that era and no contemporaneous evidence exists for this assertion.¹

A July 18, 1845 fire that claimed over 300 buildings in the New York area also claimed the Union Bank, Cartwright's employer, and he soon found himself working for his brother Alfred at the latter's Wall Street book and stationary store.²

Gold had been discovered in California in early 1848 and news of fortunes being made by those of stout enough character to brave the West made it to New York in September of the same year. With two small children and a wife to consider, Cartwright decided to make his fortune in the gold fields of California and began preparing for a wagon trip across the continent (without his wife Eliza and their children, DeWitt and Mary, who were all to join him later).³

His younger brother Alfred sold the book business and also left for San Francisco, though he traveled by boat (which was both longer in distance and shorter in time). In light of these developments, a pair of advertisements in the Hartford Daily Courant for February 14, 1849, while not necessarily having anything to do with either Cartwright, at least gives a flavor of the times:

Rare Chance.
An opportunity is now offered for any one desirous of entering into the Book Business, and possessed of two or three thousand dollars capital, to purchase the whole or part of the stock of Books, together with a three year's lease of a good stand, and the good will of the concern, with a fair run of custom, at a very low rate, as the business must be closed by the 15th March, the advertiser being about to emigrate...

For San Francisco, California
THE splendid A. I. coppered and copper fastened Ship Loo Choo, 650 tons Register. Cushman, master, now lying at Pier 6 North River, is receiving her cargo and will sail on or about the 25th instant, most of her Passengers and Freight being now engaged... Captain Cushman has had great experience in rounding the Horn, consequently is enabled to take a ship round in a much shorter time than a less experienced master... She will have every convenience for the health and comfort of Passengers... We invite Associations going to California to inspect the accommodations of this ship.⁴

Another ad promotes the California Guide Book: Comprising Col. Fremont's Geographical account of Upper California. Many had gold fever, but those pushing the books and trips to the territory were the only ones certain to strike it rich.

According to Cartwright's diaries, California pioneer William Henry Russell led the "company consisting of 32 waggons with 110 men, for ‘Gold Diggins’ of California, our trail lay over a fine prairie on the Santa Fe route." Anyone believing a transcontinental journey in the 1840s to be a fun-filled vacation should see the PBSs episode of The American Experience called The Donner Party.⁵

While on the journey west, Cartwright's wife back home in New York discovered she was pregnant and gave birth to a third child, a girl she named Kathleen.

Cartwright made it to California by August and met up with his brother, who had already arrived. But Alick had contracted dysentery and was apparently was given the sound medical advice to go to Hawaii for his health, for he soon abandoned dreams of gold and headed to Honolulu. There his background as a volunteer firefighter came in handy as he formed Honolulu's first volunteer fire brigade. His background working at the Union Bank also paid dividends as he was employed as a bookkeeper. By 1871 he was the secretary and treasurer of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce.

Sadly Kathleen Cartwright died during a trip from Honolulu to San Francisco in November of 1851. All three of their first children would not live beyond 26 years of age nor would any of them have children of their own. Indeed, had the Cartwrights stopped having children at this point, no grandchild of Alick would have been around to promote his alleged contributions to the game and he might be as forgotten as fellow Knickerbockers William Wheaton, William Tucker, and Daniel Adams.

It was in Hawaii that the youngest Cartwrights were born, Bruce in 1853 and Alexander III in 1855. Bruce's only son, Bruce Cartwright, Jr. is the one responsible for making the world aware of his grandfather's accomplishments (as well as more than a few of his own embellishments). But before we discuss his mythmaking, let set the stage by discussing that first great bit of baseball mythmaking.

The Doubleday Myth

Attempting to create an "American" origin for the roots of baseball so as to make the sport seem more patriotic, sports magnate and former star baseballist Albert Spalding created a commission of close friends and business associates that would doubtless succeed, whether by hook or by crook. They chose the latter path and eventually found a soon-to-be-institutionalized old man named Abner Graves who was originally from Cooperstown, New York and who conveniently claimed that Civil War General Abner Doubleday had invented the game in 1839 in the sleepy rural New York village. This "fact" was publicized proudly by Spalding in 1907. It was then discredited as myth. This was also in 1907. More than a quarter of a century would pass before the misplaced museum in Cooperstown was built anyway.

Indeed, nothing stopped Major League Baseball, the town of Cooperstown, nor the U.S. Postal Service from celebrating 1839 as a the birthyear, Cooperstown as the birthplace, and Doubleday as the "Father of" baseball. While the sport's Hall has no business being located in Cooperstown, New York, the decision makers at the time at least had the good sense not to elect Doubleday, proving perhaps that there were no true believers even then. (Sadly, his imagery still haunts the Hall, though it is unclear whether the ABNER system (American Baseball Network for Electronic Research) is named for the general or the madman who actually created the myth.)

As I have suggested, there were those who disregarded the Doubleday story from the beginning, and those who did found a convenient surrogate in Alick Cartwright. Cartwright had the perfect pedigree: He had been a founding member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club - acknowledged as the first organized baseball club - and had a grandson was only too happy to provide typewritten copies of his father's contemporary journals as well as stories that his grandfather allegedly told him to prove that Alick did a lot more than just organize the Knicks. (Note that Alick had died in 1892 as was not a party to these shenanigans any more than the similarly deceased Doubleday was.)

And those transcripts proved that Cartwright had spread his game from here to Timbuktu, and San Francisco too! So now those in the know could declare au contraire whenever Doubleday's name was mentioned in connection with baseball and point to Cartwright as the true father of baseball. Significantly and unlike Doubleday, Cartwright was inducted into the first class of Hall of Famers to include pioneers and executives.

In fairness to those who bought the story, it was at least far more believable than the easily dismissed (and yet embraced) Doubleday Myth.

The Cartwright Myth

Cartwright in his own era was not so honored. He was spoken of - mostly by other members of the Knickerbockers - and he doubtless was a pioneer of the sport. But so were his teammates as well as the other teams of the era. It was not until his grandson, Bruce Cartwright, Jr., heard of Spalding's commission that we first hear claims of all of Cartwright alleged contributions.

There are a variety of reasons why organized baseball went ahead with the Cooperstown museum and myth in the mid 1930s even though they knew it to be a lie. I won't cover them on a page about Cartwright, but it seems that organizers were happy to have something tangible (and it had to seem tangible compared to Doubleday, plus no one had yet found evidence to disprove the Cartwright claim) to hang their hats on regarding the early years of baseball. And thus the committee of experts named Cartwright to the class of 1938 - the second to include "pioneers and executives."

The farther you dig into Cartwright alleged contributions as the "father of modern baseball," the more inescapable is the notion that it too is myth. Near the top-right of this page (in our "At a glance" section), we have the text that appears (courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame) on his Hall of Fame plaque. It suggests a number of Cartwright accomplishments. Let's take a look at them one by one:

Assuming we give Cartwright credit for organizing the Knicks, the Hall batted .200 on Cartwright's plaque. They could put updated information on their website, but like many religious institutions, they'd apparently rather perpetuate a "good" lie than than admit they were wrong even if everyone else knows they're wrong.⁶

While Cartwright was a member of the first organized baseball club in recorded history, and that club's rules formed the basis for the rules of the first national baseball association, and thus the rules for modern baseball, his own contributions are clearly overstated and teammates Duncan Curry, William Wheaton and William Tucker deserve at least as much credit as Cartwright and perhaps much more (it was the Knicks that stuck around after that game in 1846 that helped popularize baseball and spread the Knick Rules, and thus modern baseball).

It should be noted that Duncan Curry himself backs up at least part of the Cartwright story in an 1877 interview.

As for Wheaton's contributions, we have an 1887 interview he gave the San Francisco Examiner entitled "How Baseball Began: A Member of the Gotham Club of Fifty Years Ago Tells All About It." Note that Wheaton is suggesting that he was a member of the Gothams in 1837.⁷

In the article, Wheaton reports that "After the Gotham club had been in existence a few months it was found necessary to reduce the rules of the new game to writing. This work fell to my hands, and the code I then formulated is substantially that in use to-day." If true, Wheaton's rules pre-date the Knickerbockers by nearly a decade and as Wheaton was a member of the Knickerbockers committee on rules, one would have to assume his (the Gothams) rules would have been the basis.

We could rewrite baseball history if we had a copy of the Gothams rulebook as written by Wheaton. Alas all we have is his word. Given that it was written in 1887—long before the Spalding-inspired hysteria circa 1908—it is credible.

One of the many differences between the basketball and baseball halls of fame is that the former has inducted specific teams in addition to individuals. The baseball hall would do well to honor the entire 1845 Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York for their pioneering efforts (while simultaneously withdrawing the honor given specifically and unduly to Cartwright). Without question that particular team did more for the sport of baseball than any other if only because of their widely-disseminated rules. No future discovery can alter the effect they had on the formation of organized baseball. The excuses that whole teams should not be honored or that it is "too late" are just that: excuses.⁸

With or without the independent and quasi-official National Baseball Hall of Fame's seal of approval, the Knickerbocker's place is secure. But next to Abner Doubleday (who isn't in the Hall and shouldn't count) and Morgan Bulkeley (who is in the Hall but shouldn't be), Alick is the most overrated figure in baseball history.

NOTES:
1. Regarding the Knickerbocker engine #12 fire company, author George Sheldon stated that its "[e]ngine [was] painted green and yellow, striped with gold, trimmed with roses; design on back, Diedrich Knickerbocker; drawn by 26 men, in same uniform as above." We know that the Knicks finally adopted a uniform in April of 1849 and that it was blue and white. If the club adopted the name of this engine company, then why not the colors?
Diedrich Knickerbocker, by the way, was the literary invention of Washington Irving. Irving's first published work was a satire of local history said to be written by a mysterious elderly gentleman named Diedrich Knickerbocker.
Of even less interest, Sheldon also suggests the Knickerbocker Engine Company No.12 was formed before 1783 and was located at Pearl and Cherry streets between at least 1796 and 1813. Between 1832-34 it was located at Rose Street, near Frankfort, and on William Street near Duane in 1841. It also confirms March 1, 1843 as the date of disbandment. (The story of the volunteer fire department of the city of New York New York by George William Sheldon, Harper & Bros., 1882, page 351.)
2. "Terrific Fire! 300 buildings burned." New York Tribune, July 19, 1845.
3. If that seems a long time for news to travel, note that messages from California to the east coast either had to travel on ship or overland and took months. A September 18, 1848 article by a "special correspondent" in California mentioning "Gold! Gold! Gold" was base on a letter dated July 2, 1848.
4. In fact we know that Alfred was not on the Loo Choo as we have passenger lists for this ship and others of the time. And yes, I have searched in vain for Alfred Cartwright.
5. Though in fairness to the Donner Party, it was much easier thanks to guides like Russell in 1849 than it had been even three years earlier. If nothing else, such guides knew enough to get the journey finished ahead of the first snowfall and thus to not screw around doing thing like... showing locals how to play baseball.
6. Major League Baseball is no better. They still insist officially that Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's hit record on September 11, 1985 in Cincinnati instead of a few days earlier in Chicago and were made aware of Cobb's corrected total as early as 1980.
7. November 27, 1887, page 14 of the San Francisco Examiner.
8. Even if the long lost rules and constitution for the mythical New York Gothams circa 1837 are unearthed, it would still the Knickerbocker Rules that were the basis for the New York version of the game that was spread all over the nation. I, of course, do not consider it a possibility that the Hall would undertake such radical reforms. It's located in the wrong sleepy village and thus has been wrong about the origins of baseball from day one. Any real reforms would start by moving it to either Manhattan or Hoboken. Thankfully, modern readers are less likely to accept an "official" version of events than in 1939. So I will keep writing...

National Association sources/bibliography:
Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour.
Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by David Block.
Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime during the Civil War by George B. Kirsch.
Blackguards and Red Stockings by William J. Ryczek
The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 by Marshall D. Wright.
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein.
When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 by William J. Ryczek

David Nemec, the tireless 19th Century Baseball researcher, has also written a novel called Early Dreams, which takes place during this era and features real-life characters such as Cap Anson, George Wright, and Henry Lucas.

General Baseball History sources/bibliography:
Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader.
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns (PBS DVD)
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, 2nd Edition by David Nemec.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel
America's National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning, Evolution, Development and Popularity of Baseball by Albert Spalding
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.