Plaque for Cartwright unveiled in Nu'uanu
By Oscar A. Hernandez
Special to The Advertiser
The origins of America's favorite pastime will forever be debated, but one thing is certain — Hawai'i can stake its claim in baseball's history through Alexander Joy Cartwright.
Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser
Just a few weeks after the start of a new baseball season, a ceremony honoring Cartwright's 185th birthday was held yesterday morning at O'ahu Cemetery in Nu'uanu. The event was fitting for the man whom the Baseball Hall of Fame describes as "The Founder of Modern Baseball."
O'ahu Cemetary trustee Nanette Napoleon and project coordinator Korky Gallagher unveil a plaque honoring Alexander Joy Cartwright.
Cartwright was born April 17, 1820, in New York City, and died July 12, 1892, in Honolulu. He still has family members living in Hawai'i.
Jaynealyce Mokihana Meyers, 75, Cartwright's great-granddaughter, attended the ceremony.
"It means so much to me because we talk about it in the family ... my son, who lives in Guam, called, telling me, 'Mom you've got to go to this,' " Meyers said.
Ferd Borsch, Lyle Nelson, Lew Matlin, Joe Stanton, Nanette Napoleon, and Patrick "Korky" Gallagher unveiled a commemorative plaque, in celebration of Cartwright's place in baseball history and his civic contributions to the city of Honolulu.
Ferd Borsch, a longtime Honolulu Advertiser sports writer, said: "This was a personal highlight for me ... We've been honoring Cartwright for several years before this plaque ... and the people who worked on the plaque were absolutely marvelous, (requiring) great teamwork just like in baseball."
Matlin said Cartwright moved to California during the gold rush. He was traveling to China in 1849, but got ill and was left in Honolulu.
Borsch
Cartwright liked Honolulu and never left. And he soon became a prominent citizen of his adopted home.
Before leaving the Big Apple, Cartwright was a founding member of the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York City, one of baseball's first organized teams, which was required to have a set of rules to which all would abide.
Variations of baseball had been in place before Cartwright's publishing of the game's rules.
Many of Cartwright's rules are still used in today's game:
• game played on a diamond
• bases 90 feet apart
• nine players to a side
• games last nine innings
• innings end when three outs are recorded
• set batting order
Baseball was not Cartwright's only contribution.
He was one of the first fire chiefs in Hawai'i, appointed by King Kamehameha III in 1850.
In 1879, Cartwright was associated in the founding of the Honolulu Library and Reading Room, and served as its president from 1886-1892.
Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, 59, also was at O'ahu Cemetery to honor one of the department's first members.
"The fire department has a colorful past, and Cartwright played a major role in that past," Leonardi said.
Before Cartwright, the fire department was formed by volunteers who fought fires using water buckets, according to Leonardi. Cartwright's leadership set the foundation for today's department.
"He organized the fire department using his organizational skills, the same way he did for baseball," Leonardi said.
Cartwright also was on the board of The Queen's Medical Center and associated with Bishop Bank (now First Hawaiian Bank).
There is much debate as to whether Cartwright or Abner Doubleday is the founding father of baseball.
Matlin said Cartwright should receive the honor, but many believe in the "Doubleday myth."
