Editing Shortstop (section)

==History==
[[Doc Adams]] of the [[Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York|Knickerbockers]] created the concept of the shortstop position, according to baseball historian [[John Thorn]] and [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] researcher Freddy Berowski.<ref name="SABR">{{cite web|last=Thorn|first=John|title=Doc Adams|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|url=http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=639&pid=16943|access-date=November 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name="invent">{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Robert|title=The Ridgefield man who helped invent baseball|work=The News-Times|date=September 26, 2009|url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/The-Ridgefield-man-who-helped-invent-baseball-144965.php|access-date=November 30, 2011}}</ref> In the first five years the Knickerbockers played, the team fielded anywhere from eight to eleven players. The only infielders were the players covering each of the bases; if there were more than eight players, extra [[outfielder]]s were sometimes used. The outfielders had difficulty throwing baseballs into the infield because of the balls' light weight. Adams's shortstop position, which he started playing at some time from 1849 to 1850, was used to field throws from the outfielders and throw to the three infielders.<ref name="SABR"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Robert|title='Doc' Adams legacy; The position of shortstop|work=The News-Times|date=September 26, 2009|url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Doc-Adams-legacy-The-position-of-shortstop-144970.php|access-date=December 2, 2011}}</ref> The position, more of a fourth outfielder than an infielder, was also then called "short fielder" (a term still used in soft-pitch softball for the 10th player).<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickson |first=Paul |title=The Dickson Baseball Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/dicksonbaseballd0000dick_t1l3/page/1/mode/2up |accessdate=April 24, 2023 |year=1998 |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York |isbn=9780816017416 |pages=317,611,772,792}}</ref>

With the advent of higher-quality baseballs, Adams moved to the infield, since the distance the balls could travel increased.<ref name="SABR"/> However, [[Dickey Pearce]], primarily of the [[Brooklyn Atlantics]], is credited as the first to have played the shortstop position as it is played now.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McKenna |first1=Brian |title=Dickey Pearce |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dickey-pearce/ |website=Society for American Baseball Research |publisher=SABR |access-date=3 April 2021}}</ref> Adams had a long playing career with the Knickerbockers: he remained a player with the team until 1860.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thorn|first=John|title=Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2011|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGfmounsYWMC&pg=PA106|isbn=978-0-7432-9403-4}}</ref>