Abraham Lincoln

• Born February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, KY USA
• Died April 15, 1865 in Washington, DC USA

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865. He oversaw the Union war effort during the American Civil War.

In a 1860 political cartoon, Lincoln and his defeated opponents in the presidential election were shown on a baseball diamond. A book by Al Spalding, recounting legend rather than fact, states that Lincoln was playing baseball when a delegation arrived to tell him he had been given the party nomination to run for president. Lincoln is supposed to have said that the delegation would have to wait until he got another hit. A painting was made of this historic moment and hung in Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL. That story is likely apocryphal, but there is good evidence that Lincoln sometimes played town ball, the local variant of baseball, which would only spread around the country as a result of the Civil War.

A local Washington, DC semi-pro team named the Nationals played on the White House grounds during the Civil War and Lincoln was often a spectator. Legend has it that on September 18, 1861, Lincoln even missed a cabinet meeting to see the Nationals play the Excelsiors, although that game was actually played in 1866, with his successor, Andrew Johnson, in attendance. In 1861, he met with Henry Chadwick, the "father of baseball".

Lincoln's granddaughter, Jesse Harlan Lincoln, married Warren Beckwith, who played minor league baseball from 1895 to 1908 and managed the Green Bay Colts for part of 1905. Their two children were likely Abraham Lincoln's last living descendants.

A few players were named after Lincoln: Sweetbreads Bailey, Ham Wade and Abe Wolstenholme.

Further Reading

• Richard Hershberger: "Abraham Lincoln, Ballplayer ?", in Bob Brown, ed.: Monumental Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Capital Region, The National Pastime, SABR, 2009, pp. 7-8.

Related Sites

• White House Biography
• Wikipedia Entry
• Internet Public Library POTUS Page
• Presidents and Baseball

Preceded by James Buchanan

United States President 1861 - 1865

Succeeded by Andrew Johnson