Today is the birthday, in 1819, of Abner Doubleday, Civil War general and reputed inventor of Baseball. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was his finest hour, but his relief by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade caused lasting enmity between the two men. In San Francisco, after the war, he obtained a patent on the cable car railway that still runs there.
Although he never made such a claim, Doubleday was declared to have invented the game of baseball in 1908, fifteen years after his death, by the Mills Commission. This claim has been thoroughly debunked by baseball historians. Despite the lack of solid evidence linking Doubleday to the origins of baseball, Cooperstown, New York, became the new home of what is today the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1937.
Gen. Abner Doubleday, U.S.A.
Reflecting Pool contractor looks like a movie villain…
Here’s Lenka, teaching us about…Everything! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE9tV1WGTgE
