Doyle, Jack M.

The Spalding Commission (commonly called the Mills Commission) was set up by Albert Spalding in 1905 with the goal of discovering the true origins of baseball. After some debate between Henry Chadwick, who claimed baseball evolved from the English game of rounders, and Spalding, who claimed it was entirely American and had no connections to England, Spalding put together a commission to settle the issue. The commission collected any information that could shed light on the subject. After receiving a letter from Abner Graves, claiming that baseball was invented in Cooperstown, NY, by Abner Doubleday in 1839, the commission concluded that baseball was 1) entirely of American origin, and 2) that its inventor was Abner Doubleday. The commission was composed of A.G. Mills, Arthur P. Gorman, Morgan G. Bulkeley, N.E. Young, Alfred J. Reach, George Wright, and James E. Sullivan, who acted as secretary. Jack M. Doyle was Albert G. Spalding's secretary.