‘Base Ball’s Origins — A Clearer Picture’

‘Back on the Auction Block, a 19th-Century Document Essential to Baseball’s Rules’ “When it was auctioned in 1999, a document called “Laws of Base Ball” had no known author, but obvious significance. Within its pages were fundamental rules, like nine men on a side and 90-foot basepaths.

“But the “Laws” — and two documents inspired by it — sold for only $12,650 in a ‘Sotheby’s’ auction devoted to books and manuscripts.

“Now, the buyer is turning into a seller in an online auction by ‘SCP Auctions’ that will begin on April 6. And the author of “Laws” has a name: Daniel Adams, known as ‘Doc’, a significant figure in mid-19th-century baseball who has come to be viewed as a founding father of the game.