<Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ This list of panelists and the organization and publication dates follow "The Mills Commission" in "The Origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum" by that institution . The Hall and Museum owes its Cooperstown location and its 1839 birth date, at least, to the Mills Commission finding . </Li> </Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ This list of panelists and the organization and publication dates follow "The Mills Commission" in "The Origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum" by that institution . The Hall and Museum owes its Cooperstown location and its 1839 birth date, at least, to the Mills Commission finding . </Li> <P> The earliest known published rules of baseball in the United States were written in 1845 for a New York City "base ball" club called the Knickerbockers . The purported organizer of the club, Alexander Cartwright, is one person commonly known as "the father of baseball". The rules themselves were written by the two - man Committee on By - Laws, Vice-President William R. Wheaton and Secretary William H. Tucker . One important rule, the 13th, outlawed "soaking" or "plugging", putting a runner out by hitting him with a thrown ball, introducing instead the concept of the tag; this reflected the use of a farther - traveling and potentially injurious hard ball . Another significant rule, the 15th, specified three outs to an inning for the first time instead of "one out, all out" or "all out, all out ." The 10th rule prescribed foul lines and foul balls and the 18th forbade runners advancing on a foul, unlike the "Massachusetts game" in which all batted balls were in play . The Knickerbockers also enlarged the diamond well beyond that of town ball, possibly to modern size depending on how "paces" is interpreted . </P> <P> Evolution from the so - called "Knickerbocker Rules" to the current rules is fairly well documented . The most significant differences were that overhand pitching was illegal, strikes were only counted if the batter swung and missed, "wides" or balls were not counted at all, a batted ball caught on the first bounce was an out, and a game was played to 21 "aces" or runs rather than for a set number of innings . </P>

Started the knickerbocker base ball club true inventor of baseball