Who is the Real Father of Baseball?

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Posted By: Joann

Great conversation. I think the reason more don't join in is because (if they are anything like me) they don't think they can add to the knowledge - just take it away.

But I have always half followed and been interested in the auto industry, and I think there is an interesting parallel between the invention of baseball and the invention of the automobile.

Both have indistinct beginnings, in that the end item evolved over time from a variety of similar concepts. Town ball and rounders = early steam devices and other horseless conveyance designs going back to DaVinci.

Both have an individual that is widely considered to be the inventor by students of the topic and maybe some casual fans, although even then there is debate as to the true role of this individual. Alexander Joy Cartwright = Karl Benz.

Both have another individual who is somehow most widely associated with the beginning of the game/industry as the person that gave it legs, that did some significant thing to help spur growth. Harry Wright did all that Barry described above, and Henry Ford took the auto out of the rich-boy-hobby category and made it a mass phenomenon - even a backbone of the country. Harry Wright = Henry Ford

I guess the only difference is the Abner Doubleday business - the person still mistakenly thought to have invented the item by many mainstream Americans. I suppose that in a way, Henry Ford plays that role as well.

Interesting topic though, and I thought the parallels of the role of actual inventor versus major catalyst were pretty dead on. Heck, even the basic timelines (at least when looked at in the context of all of North American history) are not that far off.

Joann

ETA that I can't think of anymore offhand, but I bet there are dozens of huge cultural-center type things in the US and world that would have similar parallels: related concepts early on, one individual (or very few) that crystallize the thinking to one core design, and another individual (or few) that shoot the invention to the stars.