Baseball's Creation Myth: Adam Ford, Abner Graves and the Cooperstown Story

The story about baseball's being invented in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839 by Abner Doubleday served to prove that the U.S. national pastime was an American game, not derived from the English children's game of rounders as had been believed. The tale, embraced by Americans, has long been proven false but to this day, Cooperstown is celebrated as the birthplace of baseball. The story has captured the hearts of millions. But who spun that tale and why? This book provides a surprising answer about the origins of America's most durable myth. It seems that Abner Graves, who espoused Cooperstown as the birthplace of the game, likely was inspired by another story about an early game of baseball. The stories were remarkably similar, as were the men who told them. For the first time, this book links the stories and lives of Graves, a mining engineer, and Adam Ford, a medical doctor, both residents of Denver, Colorado. While the actual origins of the game of baseball remain subject to debate and study, new light is shed on the source of baseball's durable creation myth.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface One. A Simple Letter Two. A Son of Cooperstown Three. A Letter from Denver Four. The Doctor Moves On Five. Eleven Years in Denver Six. The Doctor Strikes Out Seven. Filling a Need Eight. The Myth Exposed, Promoted, Adopted Nine. An Unhappy Ending Ten. Cooperstown Prevails Eleven. Remembering the Storytellers Twelve. Testing a Tale Thirteen. Grand Theft, Baseball? Epilogue Appendix A: A. G. Spalding’s Appeal for Information About Early Baseball (1905) Appendix B: Abner Graves’s Response to Spalding (1905) Appendix C: Adam Ford’s Letter (1886) Chapter Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Award-winning journalist Brian Martin lives in London, Ontario. He is a member of the selection committee of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and the Society for American Baseball Research.

Review :
“entertaining...fascinating accounts...recommended”—Library Journal; “one of the best and most important Canadian baseball books ever written”—Kevin Glew, blogger for Cooperstowners in Canada; “meticulously researched”—Roundup Magazine; “award-winning journalist, Chip Martin has hit another home run with [this] latest book...ground-breaking...exhaustive research...well researched tome will ruffle feathers…an academic work that will intrigue baseball historians”—Toronto Sun; “an academic work that will intrigue baseball historians”—The London Free Press; “fascinating...Martin digs where no other baseball researcher has dug before to present the first detailed accounts of the lives of two complex men with links to the origins of baseball. In doing so, he has not only penned a compelling and groundbreaking page-turner, but he has written a book that should rank as one of the best and most important Canadian and American baseball history books ever released”—canadianbaseballnetwork.com; “Baseball’s Creation Myth presents new evidence for the continuing debates on baseball’s origins. It is must reading for all baseball fans.”—Robert Knight Barney, former president of the North American Society for Sport History.