Doubleday, Abner (1819-1893), was a United States Army officer who was once considered the inventor of baseball. In order to settle a dispute over the origin of the game, Albert G. Spalding, a sporting-goods manufacturer and former ballplayer, suggested the appointment of a commission to study the matter. The commission’s report, published in 1908, credited Doubleday with inventing the game in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. In honor of Doubleday, Cooperstown residents established the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in the town. The Hall of Fame operates under the jurisdiction of professional baseball. Most historians today claim that Doubleday had little, if anything, to do with baseball. They believe the sport probably developed from an English game called rounders. See Baseball (The Abner Doubleday Theory) .
Doubleday was born on June 26, 1819, in Ballston Spa, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842, and he served in the Mexican War (1846-1848). Doubleday became a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). He commanded the troops at Fort Sumter that fired the first shots by the North in the Civil War. Doubleday also fought heroically at the Battle of Gettysburg. Doubleday died on Jan. 26, 1893.
