Louis F. Wadsworth

Louis Fenn Wadsworth (May 6, 1825 – March 26, 1908) was an American baseball pioneer, who was a player and organizer with the New York Knickerbockers in the 1840s. “Baseball’s man of mystery,” he is now credited by the official historian of Major League Baseball with developing the number of innings and players on each team,[1] as well as the field’s diamond shape.[1] Wadsworth also was baseball's first professional player.[1]

Born in either Hartford, Connecticut, Litchfield, Connecticut or Amenia, New York,[1] Wadsworth graduated from Washington College (now Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.), and worked as a naval office attorney in the New York Custom House.[1] "A tempestuous character," wrote MLB's official historian John Thorn, "Wadsworth commenced his ball playing days with the Gothams, a venerable club that actually predated the Knickerbockers, with whom he quickly achieved prominence as the top first baseman of his time. Then, on April 1, 1854, he switched his allegiance to the Knickerbockers ... perhaps for 'emoluments,' as recompense was euphemistically known then; his skilled play would increase the Knickerbockers’ chances of victory. It is these circumstances that incline me to believe that Wadsworth may thus be termed baseball's first professional player."[1]

In 1856, a committee was formed with representatives of each of the baseball teams to formalize the rules of the game. After it was agreed that games would be seven innings, Wadsworth (representative of the Knickerbockers) rejected the committee’s conclusion of seven players and seven innings, and proposed nine. His proposal was approved by all the clubs.[1]

He was mentioned in the 1908 Spalding guide, in regards to the Mills Commission's findings of the origins of baseball, although nobody on the Mills commission could locate him. A statement by Duncan Curry revealed that “a diagram, showing the ball field laid out substantially as it is today, was brought to the field one day by a Mr. Wadsworth.” [2]

Unbeknownst to the members of the Mills commission, after his playing days, by the 1870s he resettled in Plainfield, New Jersey where he became a justice of the peace and then a judge. He died in a poorhouse 8 days after the Spalding Guide was released. He had purportedly taken to drink and squandered what was once a $300,000 fortune ($10.5 million in 2024 dollars).[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Thorn, John, "Louis Fenn Wadsworth: Baseball's Man of Mystery and History," Our Game, MLB.com, April 26, 2016
  2. ^ Thorn, John (12 March 2011). "Debate Over Baseball's Origins Spills Into Another Century". New York Times. Retrieved December 11, 2015.

References

  • Thorn, John (2011). Baseball in the Garden of Eden. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-9403-4.
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