Well, that's silly, but in the scheme of important things it's like a university president saying that he thinks Tommy the Turtle ought to remain the beloved mascot of the Total State Turtles. Pure hot air.

It's the New York Sun saying "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

GO TOTAL STATE BEAT STATE U.

T
U
R
T
L
E
S

Run run turtle fun
Rock 'em sock 'em pow
Go go turtle pull
Stick 'em in the jowl

Nice to see his ignornace is broad based.

Rah rah ree
Kick 'em in the knee!
Rah rah rass
Kick 'em in the other knee!

Bud Selig also said there was no collusion on salaries, that the union caused the cancellation of the 1994 season, that baseball teams lost more than half a billion dollars in 2001 alone, that teams cannot compete without publicly-funded stadiums, that MLB would not take control of the Expos, and that he personally spearheaded efforts to stop the spread of PEDs during the same early years when he'd previously claimed to have heard nothing about PEDs. This Doubleday lie is merely adorable.

Priceless paragraph, Gonfalon! "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Bud Selig also said there was no collusion on salaries, that the union caused the cancellation of the 1994 season, that baseball teams lost more than half a billion dollars in 2001 alone, that teams cannot compete without publicly-funded stadiums, that MLB would not take control of the Expos, and that he personally spearheaded efforts to stop the spread of PEDs during the same early years when he'd previously claimed to have heard nothing about PEDs.

But he was quite open in his desire to screw the Yankees and enrich his cronies, so why dwell on the negatives?

Selig also stated: "A young Abner laid the bases at 90 feet, decreed three strikes for an out and that there should be more than 8 teams in the playoffs and games be played at night."

Somebody didn't watch their Ken Burns.

The young Seligula must have heard Bil Stern tell stories on how Lincoln on his deathbed said "Tell General Doubleday not to let baseball die. And don't let any of your heirs bring in real estate agents as partners when they own a team."

What Bud is referring to is that Doubleday supposedly fired the first shot of the Civil War by the Union at Fort Sumter. (A subplot of a book I recently read talked about how British explorer and spy, Richard Burton, urged him to be aggresive because the Brish wanted the war.)

We know from Ken Burns that the war spread the popularity of baseball as well as leading to more standardized rules. So he can indeed be considered the “Father of Baseball.” Bud as usual is correct.

But he was quite open in his desire to screw the Yankees and enrich his cronies, so why dwell on the negatives?

Would that he were so diligent in actually screwing them.

The young Seligula must have heard Bil Stern tell stories on how Lincoln on his deathbed said "Tell General Doubleday not to let baseball die. And don't let any of your heirs bring in real estate agents as partners when they own a team."

Nelson Doubleday wasn't related to Abner, AFAICT. He descended from a Huguenot family originally surnamed DuBaldy.

Wow, I think you resurrected this thread from the Civil War era.

Must have taken quite some time to trace the genealogy - probably a lot of bastards slowed him down.

What exactly is the benefit to perpetrating this myth to Selig and/or MLB. He obviously knows better at this point, so why the charade? Is there some sort of financial or contractual matter that goes poof if they finally give up the ghost? Does the birthplace of baseball have to be Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame to be there?

Since this thread from TWO YEARS AGO, Selig pulled the classic Selig move of forming a committee to look into the matter. And the committee at least had some real people on it, led by baseball's then-newly-appointed official historian, John Thorn.

As is typical of Selig's committees, I haven't heard about it since. But, I haven't been looking for it either. Thorn has a blog; maybe it's been mentioned there.