The myth of Abner Doubleday creating baseball is as such (concise version):  Doubleday was said to have laid out the first baseball diamond in a lot in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.  Supposedly, Doubleday was the creator of the force out and limited the amount of ball players to nine.  

This tale was accepted by the General Public until investigated by the Mills Commission.

Some of the findings of the commission were:

• Doubleday attended West Point in 1839.
• Lack of proof that Doubleday ever visited Cooperstown.
• Doubleday never claimed himself to have created baseball.

The main reason for the deception had nothing to do with Doubleday personally, it concerned the politics of the time.  Doubleday was a well known Civil War Hero and credited with the first shot fired at Fort Sumter.  Public debate in the 1900's raged over whether baseball was purely an American creation. For patriotic reasons Americans needed to believe their national pastime was theirs and theirs alone, thus Doubleday was given the credit and Cartwright was forgotten.

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Last modified: February 05, 2000