June 26

Abner Doubleday has a name closely tied to the game of baseball. He was born on the 26th in 1819. Legend has it that he invented the game in a cow pasture owned by Elihu Phinney in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839, which might explain why the Baseball Hall of Fame is located there. What is rarely mentioned however, is that Doubleday also commanded a Union force during the American Civil War and fired the first shot in the defense of Fort Sumter at the opening of that battle.