Editing Alexander Cartwright (section)

== Knickerbocker Base Ball Club ==
[[File:New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club, circa 1847.jpg|thumb|left|180px|The New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club, circa 1847. Cartwright at the top middle. The identification of Cartwright has been disputed.<ref>The identification of Cartwright in this image is at least controversial. Articles seriously challenging this identification can be found in Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) newsletters at [https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/tysgx0z66j8u64tq5rtd.pdf  "Just Another Misidentified Baseball Photo?".] Society of American Baseball Research. October 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2012. and at [https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/106f79f134092a683653.pdf" So, are there any Knickerbockers in that 1840s half-plate daguerreotype?".] Society of American Baseball Research. March 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.</ref>]]
[[File:Baseball at Elysian Fields, Hoboken, NJ in 1866.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Early baseball game played at [[Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey|Elysian Fields]] in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] ([[Lithography|lithograph]] by [[Currier and Ives]])]]

One of the earliest known established clubs was the Gotham Base Ball Club, who played a brand of bat-and-ball game often called "[[town ball]]" or "round ball," but in New York more usually "base ball," similar but not identical to the British sport of [[rounders]], on a field at 4th Avenue and 27th Street. In 1837, Gotham member [[William R. Wheaton]] drew up rules converting this playground game into a more elaborate and interesting sport to be played by adults. In 1842, Cartwright led the establishment of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club (named after the Knickerbocker Fire Engine Company), a breakaway group from the Gothams.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

In 1845, a committee from the new club including Wheaton (but not Cartwright) drew up rules resembling those of the Gothams. The major precepts included the stipulations that foul territories were to be introduced for the first time, and the practice of retiring a runner by hitting him with a thrown ball was forbidden.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alexander Cartwright: First Modern Game of Baseball 1845|publisher=Baseball Historian|url=http://www.baseballhistorian.com/html/american_heroes.cfm?page=52|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000712030954/http://baseballhistorian.com/html/american_heroes.cfm?page=52|archive-date=July 12, 2000}}</ref> Cartwright is also erroneously credited for introducing flat bases at uniform distances, three strikes per [[Batting (baseball)|batter]], and nine players in the [[outfield]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|page=21|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2yt_MYIGvQC&pg=PA21|isbn=978-0-307-49406-1|date=December 24, 2008}}</ref> However, modern scholarship has cast doubt on the originality of these rules, as information has come to light about the New York clubs that predated the Knickerbockers, in particular the rules devised by [[William R. Wheaton]] for the Gotham Club in 1837.  Baseball historian Jeffrey Kittel has concluded that none of the Knickerbocker Rules of 1845 was original, with the possible exception of three-out innings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://protoball.org/1845_Knickerbocker_Rules|title=Evolution or Revolution? A Rule-By-Rule Analysis of the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules|author=Kittel, Jeffrey|access-date=May 9, 2016}}</ref>  As MLB's Official Historian [[John Thorn]] wrote, Cartwright has "a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame on which every word of substance is false. Alex Cartwright did not set the base paths at ninety feet, the sides at nine men, or the game at nine innings."<ref name=thorn>Thorn, John, ''Baseball in the Garden of Eden: the Secret History of the Early Game'' New York: Simon & Schuster (2011)</ref> (In fact, all three were established by the inter-club [[National Association of Base Ball Players|Convention of 1857]], eight years after Cartwright had left New York).{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

The first clearly documented match between two baseball clubs under these rules took place on June 19, 1846, at [[Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey|Elysian Fields]] in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]]. In this match, the Knickerbockers lost to the "New York nine" (probably the parent Gotham Club) by a score of 23 to 1.<ref name=Nucciarone2009>{{cite book|last1=Nucciarone|first1=Monica|title=Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend|chapter=Chapter 2: The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York|pages=12–22|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8032-3353-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HGAKf203p8C&pg=PT88}}</ref> Some authors have also questioned the supposed "first game" under the new rules. The Knickerbockers' scorebook shows intra-club games during 1845; the New York Base Ball Club played at least three games against a Brooklyn club in 1845 also, but the rules used are unknown. Those who have studied the score-book have concluded that the differences in the games of 1845 and 1846, compared with the specifications of the Knickerbocker rules, are minimal.{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}