Ivers Whitney Adams

Ivers Whitney Adams (born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts in 1838) was an American baseball executive and businessperson.

He left at age nineteen to seek his fortune in Boston. He was successful in business, and became president of the American Net and Twine Company, largest manufacturer of its kind in the world at the time. Adams was an enthusiastic sportsman, he had a fishing lodge in Canada, from which he sent his Ashburnham friends fresh salmon, and a hunting preserve in Virginia. He was interested in the propagation of fish, and for some years leased from the town of Ashburnham Lake Naukeag, where he maintained a summer home on an island.

Bela Pratt's sculpture, Ashburnham's Schoolboy of 1850, was presented to the town of Ashburnham Schools by Adams in 1913, a year before his death.

Baseball

Adams was the Founder, Organizer and First President of the Boston Base Ball Club. On January 20, 1871, the Boston Red Stockings were incorporated by Ivers Whitney Adams with $15,000 and the help of Harry Wright, who had founded and managed America's first truly professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

"To Ivers W. Adams belongs the credit of first conceiving the idea of a professional baseball team for our city. Mr. Adams' interest in outdoor athletic sports in a general way, more particularly in baseball, led him to consider the possibility of establishing such a team for Boston. Could a team be secured whose members were temperate men, honest in their efforts to win, and proficient in ths sport? Could satisfactory backing be found for it in Boston after the eliminating of pool and liquor selling on the grounds, factors then in vogue with most of the semi-professional teams in existence in different parts of the country? Mr. Adams carefully considered the matter months before the first step was taken, finally deciding if the right men could be found he would make the effort.

The attention of the baseball world in 1870 was turned to the "Red Stockings of Cincinnati". The Wrights, Harry and George, were known to be the leading spirits of that team. Mr. Adams' attention was called to them, and in conversation with a leading local cricketer at that time, he became convinced the Wrights were the men wanted, and failing to secure them, the effort would be abandoned. A correspondence was opened, resulting in Mr. Adams visiting Cincinnati and meeting the Wrights. Subsequently George came to Boston, and during the following few weeks, while here as Mr. Adams' guest and in constant communication with Harry in Cincinnati, the first Boston team was determined upon at a meeting held at the Parker House on January 20, 1871."

From " A History of the Boston Baseball Club" "-a concise and accurate history of Base Ball from its inception". Compled by George V. Tuohey; page 64.Published by M.F. Quinn & Co. Boston, MA: copyright 1897.HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

References

Ezra S. Stearns. History of Ashburnham, Mass. J.E. Farwell Co., Boston, 1887. pg. 794

George V. Tuohey. A History of the Boston Baseball Club - A concise and accurate history of Base Ball from its inception. M.F. Quinn & Co. Boston, MA, 1897. pg. 64. HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY