Houston Sports - Abner Doubleday

Abner Doubleday

Born: June 26, 1819

Sport: Baseball (Mythically credited with inventing baseball)

For the better part of the past week, I had the enjoyable experience of having a one-on-one vacation with my youngest daughter.  I have had the opportunity to take a trip alone with each of my three girls over the past two years, but this one was unique.  While the older two are big fans of beaches and cruise ships, my youngest decided to go a different direction when I offered her the chance to get away.  Declining the option to climb aboard a boat, she instead leaned into her love of history and asked to go see the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  And so we took off and saw the National Civil War Museum, the Civil War sites of Gettysburg and Antietam, and the Revolutionary War locations of Brandywine and Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia.  During that time, a particular name came up on several occasions which actually has a connection to Houston sports.  Although his contribution to the invention of the game is dubious at best, and more likely completely debunked, he was nevertheless a significant figure in the development of baseball's local popularity.  So let's take a look at the life and local connection of Abner Doubleday.

Although the image is dated 110 years after the Galveston-Houston game took place, the San Jacinto Battlefield is where it was played

Born in the small New York town of Ballston Spa just north of the state capital of Albany, Abner Doubleday was one of three sons of Ulysses and Hester Doubleday.  The family had a history of military and political service, with Abner's great-grandfather on his mother's side serving as a Minuteman and grandfather serving as an aide to General Washington.  Abner's paternal grandfather, after whom the young man was named, also served in the Revolutionary War.  Ulysses had served in the War of 1812, in addition to being a publisher and serving in the US Congress for four years.  After growing up in Auburn, NY, young Doubleday was sent to the town of Cooperstown to live with his uncle, and he learned to work as a surveyor and civil engineer for a railroad company for two years before finishing school.  In 1838, at the age of 19, Doubleday entered the United States Military Academy at nearby West Point where he graduated near the middle of his class and was commissioned as an artillery second lieutenant.  Years later, a legend began that he spent time at home in Cooperstown during 1839 developing the rules for the game of baseball, but while little can be definitively proven about his activities that year, it is unlikely that significant leave would have been granted to a first-year cadet.

As a newly-minted officer in the US Army, Abner Doubleday was sent to various locations along the east coast, and at the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846 he was sent to Texas where he served under General Zachary Taylor during the invasion of Mexico.  In addition to commanding a supply depot, Doubleday saw action in the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista, earning a promotion to first lieutenant.  After the war ended, Doubleday returned to his normal service rotation but also married Mary Hewitt, a native of Baltimore who was 10 years his junior.  After seeing additional action in the Third Seminole War in Florida, Doubleday was transferred to Fort Moultrie near Charleston, South Carolina.  Both he and his wife were staunch abolitionists who made no secret of their opinions during a period of time where secessionist feelings were spreading throughout the region.  Promoted to the rank of captain, Doubleday was present when South Carolina voted to secede from the Union and the garrison commander of Fort Moultrie, Major Robert Anderson, decided to relocate to the more defensible position provided by Fort Sumter.  Doubleday was second in command of the unit and was in charge of the artillery, and when Confederate forces bombarded the garrison on April 12, 1861, he was the man who aimed the first cannon to return fire.  Despite losing the battle and giving up the fort to the South, Doubleday referred to himself as the "Hero of Sumter" for his actions.  A month later he was promoted to the rank of major, and by February 1862 he'd been named brigadier general of volunteers.  Commanding an artillery for the Army of the Potomac, Doubleday saw action during the Peninsula and Northern Virginia Campaigns in 1862 before fighting in Antietam and Fredericksburg before being held in reserve during Chancellorsville.  Along the way he was given a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel of the regular army and major general of volunteers.

It was at Gettysburg that Abner Doubleday displayed his most capable command performance, taking over a unit when Major General John Reynolds was killed at the start of fighting.  Outnumbered and forced to retreat through town, Doubleday led the I Corps of roughly 9,500 troops to a fighting retreat through the city against 16,000 Confederates until they were able to assume strong positions on Cemetery Hill.  Major General George Meade relieved him of command on day two, returning him to lead at the division level for the remainder of the battle.  It was seen by many as a personal decision by Meade, and Doubleday was furious at the humiliation of being replaced by a junior officer.  A wound to the neck resulted in him being transferred after the battle to Washington, D.C., where Doubleday acted in a largely administrative role, including gaining a legal background to handle court martial cases, except for a brief time when he took command to defend against raids against the city by Confederate General Jubal Early.  Unlike many peers, however, Doubleday chose not to retire from the military after the war's conclusion.  In 1866 he found himself as a lieutenant colonel assigned to Galveston, Texas, and the following January he did the same thing he was known for doing at numerous posts - he provided bats and balls, and created a baseball team.  The first baseball field in Texas was drawn in the dirt outside a hospital on the island's east end.  On the 32nd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto that secured Texas independence, the Galveston Robert E. Lee baseball team played against Houston's Stonewalls.  Houston won, but the result wasn't the important thing as it signified the beginning of baseball's spread of popularity.  Doubleday soon left Texas for California, where he helped found the first cable car company in San Francisco.  He signed away his rights to the entity when he was reassigned, returning one last time to Texas to take command of the 24th US Infantry - an all-African American unit based at Fort McKavett.  Two years later, in 1873, Doubleday retired from the army and moved home to New York to have a career as an attorney.

After his military career ended, Abner Doubleday spent considerable time writing about his experiences during the Civil War, and also become involved in the Theosophical Society that claimed to be an unsectarian group that pursued truth and brotherhood by studying and attempting to merge the occult, various eastern religions, science, and philosophy.  In 1893 he died of heart disease in New Jersey, the last surviving senior officer from Fort Sumter, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery after lying in state at New York's City Hall.  Although he never made any claims about having invented baseball, a commission formed in 1907 by sporting goods businessman (and former pitcher) Albert Spaulding and chaired by baseball executive Abraham Mills credited Doubleday with the invention.  Their research has been criticized for lacking hard evidence and coming to bad conclusions, but the resulting decision about where to build a National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 was good news to the city of Cooperstown.  Various fields named in Doubleday's honor can be found across the country, including one that stands just outside the Hall of Fame and another at West Point.  A cargo ship in the US Navy was named for him, the SS Abner Doubleday, which was in service from 1942-1968.

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