View source for Alexander Cartwright

{{short description|Baseball club founding member (1820–1892)}}
{{for|the academic|Alexander Cartwright (academic)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
| image       = Alexander Cartwright 1855 Daguerreotype.jpg
|alt=young man with beard
|caption=Cartwright in 1855
|birth_name=Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr.
| birth_date  = {{birth date |1820 |4 |17}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], New York, U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1892|7|12|1820|4|17}}
| death_place = [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaiian Kingdom|Kingdom of Hawai'i]]
| highlights = 
* Known for invention of the modern game of [[baseball]] (disputed)
----
{{center|'''Signature:'''}}
[[File:Alxr J Cartwright 1882 signature.svg|frameless|center]]
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
| hofdate   = [[1938 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1938]]
| hofmethod = Centennial Commission
}}
{{HistBaseball nav|early}}
'''Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr.''' (April 17, 1820 – July 12, 1892) was a founding member of the [[Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York|New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club]] in the 1840s. Although he was an inductee of the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] and he was sometimes referred to as a "father of [[baseball]]", the importance of his role in the development of the game may have been exaggerated.

The rules of the modern game were long considered to have been based on the [[Knickerbocker Rules]] developed in 1845 by Cartwright and a committee from the Knickerbockers. However, later research called this scenario into question.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sabr.org/research/creation-alexander-cartwright-myth|title=The Creation of the Alexander Cartwright Myth|author=Hershberger, Richard|work=The Society for American Baseball Research|access-date=May 9, 2016}}</ref> The [[Doubleday myth|myth]] of [[Abner Doubleday]] having invented baseball was believed by many, but in [[Cooperstown, New York|Cooperstown]] in 1939, the myth was debunked. Cartwright (unlike Doubleday) was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a pioneering contributor to the game, 46 years after his death.<ref name="Ty Cobb">{{cite book|title=Ty Cobb: Safe at Home|publisher=Globe Pequot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7InOgXkqlAC&q=Alexander+Cartwright+and+US+Congress&pg=PR14|isbn=978-0-7627-4480-0|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Alexander Cartwright|publisher=Official website of Alexander Cartwright|url=http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/cartwright/about/awards.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120040544/http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/cartwright/about/awards.html|archive-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref> Although it has been stated that Cartwright was officially declared the inventor of the modern game of baseball by the [[83rd United States Congress]] on June 3, 1953,<ref name="Ty Cobb" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kvo3gABjjoC&pg=PT42|author=Alice Low and John O'Brien|publisher=Holiday House|title=The Fastest Game on Two Feet: And Other Poems About How Sports Began|isbn=978-0-8234-1905-0|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Year In Review : 1953 National League|publisher=Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/yr1953n.shtml}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U--Zw_PYmEYC&pg=PA29|first=Jim|last=Lilliefors|publisher=Clerisy Press|title=Ball Cap Nation: A Journey Through the World of America's National Hat|isbn=978-1-57860-411-1|date=July 1, 2009}}</ref> the ''[[Congressional Record]]'', the ''House Journal'', and the ''[[United States Senate Journal|Senate Journal]]'' from June 3, 1953, did not mention Cartwright.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sabr.org/research/henderson-cartwright-and-1953-us-congress|title=Henderson, Cartwright, and the 1953 U.S. Congress|author=Berenbak, Adam|work=Baseball Research Journal|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|date=Fall 2014|access-date=May 14, 2016}}</ref>

== Early life and work ==
Cartwright was born in 1820 to Alexander Cartwright Sr. (1784–1855), a merchant sea captain, and Esther Rebecca Burlock Cartwright (1792–1871). Alexander Jr. had six siblings. He first worked at the age of 16 in 1836 as a clerk for a [[Wall Street]] broker, later doing clerical work at the [[Union Bank of New York]]. After hours, he played [[bat-and-ball games]] in the streets of [[Manhattan]] with volunteer [[firefighter]]s. Cartwright himself was a volunteer, first with Oceana Hose Company No. 36, and then Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12.<ref name="nucciarone">{{cite web|url=http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/09ed3dd4|title=Alexander Cartwright|first=Monica|last=Nucciarone|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|access-date=January 8, 2014}}</ref>
Cartwright's ancestor [[Thomas Cartwright (politician)|Thomas Cartwright]], of Aynho Park, Northamptonshire was an English landowner and Tory politician, who sat in the English and [[British House of Commons]] between 1695 and 1748. As the longest serving member he was dubbed [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]].{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

A fire destroyed the Union Bank in 1845, forcing Cartwright to find other work. He became a bookseller with his brother, Alfred.<ref name="nucciarone" />

== 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 (baseball 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}}

== Hawaii ==
[[File:OahuCemetery-AlexanderJoyCartwrightJr-tombstone.JPG|thumb|alt=stone monument|Cartwright's tombstone in [[Oahu Cemetery]], Honolulu]]

In 1849, Cartwright headed to [[California]] for the [[California Gold Rush|gold rush]], and then continued on to work and live in the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]]. His family came to join him in 1851: wife Eliza Van Wie, son DeWitt (1843–1870), daughter Mary (1845–1869), and daughter Catherine (Kate) Lee (1849–1851). Their sons Bruce Cartwright (1853–1919) and Alexander Joy Cartwright III (1855–1921) were born in Hawaii. Some secondary sources claim Cartwright set up a baseball field on the island of Oahu at Makiki Field in 1852, but Nucciarone states that before 1866, the modern game of baseball was not known or even played in Honolulu.<ref name=carthaw>{{cite book|last1=Nucciarone|first1=Monica|title=Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend|page=207|access-date=August 7, 2016|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8032-3353-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HGAKf203p8C&q=%22the+modern+game+of+baseball+was+not+well+known%22&pg=PA207}}</ref> Also, she states that during Cartwright's lifetime he was not declared or documented as an originator of baseball in Hawaii.<ref name=carthaw />
[[File:Alexander Cartwright (PP-69-3-004).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Cartwright in later life as fire chief]]

Cartwright served as fire chief of [[Honolulu]] from 1850 through June 30, 1863.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH0113/98418827.dir/Cartwright,%20A%20J.jpg |title=Cartwright, A.J. office record |work=state archives digital collections |publisher=state of Hawaii |access-date=January 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811184733/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH0113/98418827.dir/Cartwright%2C%20A%20J.jpg |archive-date=August 11, 2011 }}</ref> He was an advisor to [[Kalākaua|King David Kalākaua]] and [[Queen Emma of Hawaii|Queen Emma]]. Cartwright died on July 12, 1892, six months before the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. One of the leaders of the overthrow movement was [[Lorrin A. Thurston]], who played baseball with classmate Alexander Cartwright III at [[Punahou School]]. Cartwright was buried in [[Oahu Cemetery]].<ref name=Nucciarone2009 />

== Legacy ==
[[File:Alexander Cartwright HOF plaque.jpg|thumb|Cartwright's plaque at the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]]]]
After about two decades of controversy, invention of [[Sports in the United States|America]]'s "national game" of baseball was [[Doubleday myth|attributed]] to [[Abner Doubleday]] by the [[Mills Commission]] (1905–1907).  Some baseball historians promptly cried foul and others joined throughout the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} Cartwright was inducted into the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1938 Hall of Fame Voting|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_1938.shtml|access-date=2020-08-13|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en}}</ref>

New York City librarian Robert W. Henderson documented Cartwright's contributions to baseball in his 1947 book ''Bat, Ball, and Bishop''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robert William Henderson |title=Ball, bat and bishop: the origin of ball games |publisher=Rockport Press |year=1947 }}</ref> Although there is no question that Cartwright was a prominent figure in the early development of baseball, some students of baseball history have suggested that Henderson and others embellished Cartwright's role. The primary complaint is that touting Cartwright as the "true" inventor of the modern game was an effort to find an alternative single individual to counter the "invention" of baseball by Abner Doubleday.<ref name=thorn />

Cartwright was the subject of a 1973 biography, ''The Man Who Invented Baseball'', by Harold Peterson.<ref name=Debate>{{cite news|last=Thorn|first=John|title=Debate Over Baseball's Origins Spills Into Another Century|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/sports/baseball/13thorn.html?_r=0|access-date=August 28, 2013|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 12, 2011}}</ref> He was the subject of two biographies written in 2009. Jay Martin's ''Live All You Can: Alexander Joy Cartwright & the Invention of Modern Baseball'' supports Cartwright as the inventor of baseball, while ''Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend'' by Monica Nucciarone credits Cartwright as one of the game's pioneers but not its sole founder.<ref name=Dueling>{{cite magazine|last=Bailey|first=James|title=Dueling Cartwright biographies offer differing views of his contributions|url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/book-guide/2009/269193.html|magazine=[[Baseball America]]|access-date=August 28, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nucciarone|first1=Monica|title=Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend|page=229|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8032-3353-9|access-date=August 7, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HGAKf203p8C&q=%22i+feel+alexander+cartwright+deserves+to+be+honored+as+one+of+baseball%27s+pioneers%22&pg=PA229}}</ref> The 2004 discovery of a newspaper interview with fellow Knickerbocker founder [[William R. Wheaton]] cast doubt on Cartwright's role. Wheaton stated that most of the rules long attributed to Cartwright and the Knickerbockers had in fact been developed by the older Gotham Club before the Knickerbockers' founding.<ref name=thorn />

In 1938, Makiki Field in Honolulu was renamed Cartwright Field.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nucciarone|first1=Monica|title=Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend|page=218|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8032-3353-9|access-date=August 7, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HGAKf203p8C&q=%22makiki+park+became+cartwright+park%22&pg=PA218}}</ref>
The Cartwright Cup is awarded to the Hawaii state high school baseball champions each year.<ref name=Cup>{{cite news|title=Cartwright Cup for state baseball champ unveiled today|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/May/06/br/br2768304195.html|access-date=August 28, 2013|newspaper=[[The Honolulu Advertiser]]|date=May 6, 2007}}</ref>

== 1857 ''Laws of Base Ball'' ==

In 2016, experts verified the authenticity of a set of documents titled "Laws of Base Ball" written in 1857 by New York Knickerbockers president [[Doc Adams|Daniel "Doc" Adams]] after a discussion with executives of 14 other New York-area clubs. The documents established the rules of the game, including - for the first time - nine innings, nine players on the field and 90-foot basepaths. Cartwright was not a participant at the 1857 meeting, as he was living in Hawaii.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/15155678/laws-base-ball-papers-sale-establish-new-father-modern-baseball|title='Laws of Base Ball' documents dated 1857 establish new founder of sport|work=ESPN|date=April 8, 2016|access-date=May 9, 2016}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Baseball|Biography}}
* [[History of Hawaii]]
* [[Origins of baseball]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{bbhof|cartwright-alexander}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071124174609/http://open-site.org/Sports/Baseball/History/Biographies/Cartwright,_Alexander Open-Site] – biography
* {{cite web|url=http://www.mrbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=25|work=Mr Baseball.com|title=Alexander J. Cartwright Jr. Bio|access-date=March 28, 2008|archive-date=May 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528000122/http://www.mrbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=25|url-status=dead}}
* {{sabrbio|09ed3dd4|Monica Nucciarone|October 16, 2013}}
* {{Sabrbio|14ec7492|Doc Adams|[[John Thorn (baseball historian)|John Thorn]]|October 16, 2013}}
* [https://thornpricks.blogspot.com/2005/07/four-fathers-of-baseball.html "Four Fathers of Baseball" by John Thorn]. ''Thorn Pricks'' July 16, 2005.

{{1938 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Alexander}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:American emigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom]]
[[Category:19th-century American firefighters]]
[[Category:Baseball developers]]
[[Category:Burials at Oahu Cemetery]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:People from Honolulu]]
[[Category:People from Manhattan]]