Dorchester Illustration 2709 Ivers Adams
Ivers Adams was the elder statesman of baseball in Boston, sometimes called the father of professional baseball in Boston. He was the first president of the Boston Baseball Association in 1871. “The Association’s baseball team was a charter member of the National Association during its inaugural season in 1871, played five seasons in that league, and then became the Braves franchise in the National League.” They are now the Atlanta Braves.
Adams was born in 1838, in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He came to Boston in 1857 to start a business career. He married Sarah Shepard, and they lived on Delle Avenue in Roxbury. In the 1880s, they moved to a mansion at 98 Washington Street, Dorchester, at the intersection of Washington Street and Columbia Road. There is now a Burger King restaurant on the site of their home.
When the Cincinnati Red Stockings disbanded, Adams recruited brothers Harry and George Wright for his new Boston team. The team’s first organizing meeting occurred in 1871. “Behind the capable leadership of Harry Wright, the Boston team finished the 1871 season in second place in the National Association standings, runner-up to the champion Athletic club of Philadelphia.” Adams served only one term as president. He was busy making money in his business of carpeting.
“The Boston baseball team captured four consecutive National Association championships, from 1872 through 1875, and then two National League pennants in 1877 and 1878. Business was booming in Boston, as the baseball success had indeed helped turn Boston into one of America’s leading cities, Adams’s original goal. By the time the Boston team had won its sixth title in seven years, Adams was well on his way to becoming a millionaire as a partner at John H. Pray, Sons & Company.”
Source: “Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings” (SABR, 2016), edited by Bob LeMoine and Bill Nowlin. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/813abb83