Exeter baseball ground to be named after “father” of sport

An Exeter baseball ground will be named after a Devon man dubbed “the father of baseball” by US President Theodore Roosevelt, 200 years after his birth.

Henry Chadwick was born in Exeter in 1824 but moved to the United States with his family as a child before going on to write baseball’s first rule book and be inducted into the National Baseball.

The Exeter Spitfires baseball team has acquired some land to build its first home diamond in the city, which will be named the Chadwick Field in his honour.

Matthew Cousins, chairman of Exeter Spitfires, said the fact the New York Times journalist was born less than a mile away from the new ground was “such a coincidence and such a poetic thing”.

Mr Cousins said: “In his autobiography, it says he used to play a game similar to baseball on these very fields and it just feels fitting that 200 years later we can be marking that and doing that for ourselves.”

The club held a “turf cutting” ceremony at what will be the new field, which is expected to be ready by 2026.

Chadwick, who was born in October 1824, remains the only journalist inducted into baseball’s hall of fame, which is based in Cooperstown, New York.

Tom Shieber, curator of the hall of fame, said: “Henry Chadwick was a fervent advocate for baseball and specifically improving the game.

“It’s amazing and it should be celebrated in Exeter that here’s a guy with a significant contribution to the United States’ national pastime.”