Lives of the Knickerbockers

Abstract

looking over the early history of baseball, Albert Spalding observed in 1905, I find the names of eleven New York gentlemen who were the founders of the original Knickerbocker club, names that should be honored and remembered as the founders of the national game by the million baseball players of the present day. They are as follows: Col. James Lee, Dr. Ransom, Abraham Tucker, James Fisher, W. Vail, Alexander J. Cartright [sic], William R. Wheaton, Duncan F. Curry, E.R. Dupignac, Jr., William H. Tucker and Daniel L. Adams [who was actually not an original member; see above]. Are not some of these gentlemen still living? Or possibly some of their heirs might throw some light on the early history and especially the origin of baseball.1By then, all of those men were indeed in their graves and the members of Spalding's commission on baseball's origins do not appear to have tried to contact those Knickerbockers who were alive in 1905. As a result, General Abner Doubleday, deceased since 1893, was anointed as baseball's inventor-a conclusion that would have amazed that distinguished gentleman-and the game's true pioneers slipped into undeserved obscurity. Fortunately, that has begun to change in recent years and the sketches that follow are, in part, the result. In the upcoming volume of Base Ball Pioneers (McFarland, 2013) the authors of the profiles below expand upon the legacy of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York. In a decidedly new contribution to baseball scholarship, we have researched the lives of men who may have been known only by their last-name entries in the surviving KBBC Game Books.In what is admittedly something of a tease, prompting readers of this journal to purchase the forthcoming volume, we provide below a few of the more interesting profiles of lesser known Knicks. Absent from this preview are such men as Daniel L. Adams, Alexander Cartwright, Duncan F. Curry, James Whyte Davis, Louis F. Wadsworth, William R. Wheaton, and Wright, all amply profiled in Baseball in the Garden of Eden.David Haight Anthony: Two men with the surname of played in the Knickerbockers' celebrated June 19, 1846, game against the New York Club. One was Henry T. Anthony, later a club officer. The other is listed as D. Anthony by Charles Peverelly, so is presumed to be Henry's brother David, a grocer who did not remain involved in the club's activities. David was born in Manhattan on December 12, 1821, and died in Hackensack, New Jersey. A third brother, Edward (b. January 31, 1819, New York City; d. December 14, 1888, New York City) was Henry Anthony's business partner and may also have been involved in the Knickerbockers. Yet another brother, Jacob Anthony, Jr., who was born in New York City on October 24, 1816, and died there on May 25, 1872, was also a club member. Harold Peterson believed that the father, Jacob Anthony, Sr., was also a club member, but the basis for this conclusion is not known.2Henry Tiebout Anthony: While his brothers appear to have had only limited involvement with the Knickerbocker Club, Henry T. served several terms as a club officer during the 1850s. In an 1865 letter Alexander Cartwright mentioned Harry Anthony as one of the Knickerbockers whom he remembered fondly.3 Henry was born in New York City on September 18, 1814, into a distinguished family that had come over from Holland in the 1620s. His father, Jacob Anthony, Sr., held prominent positions at the United States Branch Bank and the Bank of the State of New York. Henry studied at Columbia College and graduated in 1832 along with fellow Knickerbocker Walter Avery.4 Like Avery, he became a civil engineer and worked on several major projects, including the Croton Aqueduct. Meanwhile his brother Edward had been studying the new art of daguerreotyping under Samuel Morse and in 1841 opened his own studio. By 1852 the business's success enabled Henry to become Edward's partner in the firm, which eventually became known as E. …