Henry Chadwick Essentials Positions: Bats: Throws: Weight: Born: Year: 1824 in Exeter, Devon United Kingdom Died: 4 20 1908 in Brooklyn, NY USA Debut: Last Game: Hall of Fame: Inducted as a Pioneer/Executive in 1938 by Centennial Full Name: Henry Chadwick
1908 – Henry Chadwick dies at age 83 in Brooklyn, New York. A sportswriter and historian, Chadwick was one of the prime movers in the rise of baseball to its unprecedented popularity at the turn of the 20th century. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee in 1938.
1899 – Henry Chadwick, called the “Father of Baseball”, visits US President William McKinley in Washington, DC, to propose that Army regiments be provided with baseball equipment. This is Chadwick’s first presidential interview since his visit with President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
1871 – The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players is founded, setting the stage for the future National League in 1876. The entry fee for a National Association franchise is set at $10.
1870 – Young pitcher Fred Goldsmith demonstrates at a public exhibition at the Capitoline Grounds in Brooklyn, NY that the curve ball is a real pitch and not simply an optical illusion, as he manages to make a ball bend around three parallel stakes placed in the ground. Henry Chadwick is among those in attendance and reports on the event in the next day’s paper. Goldsmith’s claim to have invented the pitch will be disputed by Candy Cummings, however.