Tribute will be paid tomorrow to the memory of Alexander Joy Cartwright, former Honolulan, for his role as the father of modern baseball. Sandwiched between two games at the Honolulu stadium, a ceremony will be held to present the city with a duplicate of the plaque being unveiled Monday in baseball’s hall of fame at Cooperstown, N.Y.
Donor of the plaque is William Cartwright, great grandson of the man who is credited with laying out the baseball diamond, fixing the size of a team at nine members, setting the length of the game at nine innings and organizing the first baseball club.
Mr. Cartwright will unveil the plaque at 3 p.m. and present it to the city. Mayor Charles S. Crane will be on hand to accept the memorial, and A.L. Castle will be chairman of the program.
Recognition for Alexander Joy Cartwright’s part in launching baseball as the nation’s favorite sport comes as the climax of more than two years of effort by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce. Prior to the time the chamber took a hand in determining the true founder of baseball, the honor was generally attributed to Gen. Abner Doubleday, of Cooperstown. In the belief that he had pioneered the game, a hall of fame was erected in the town of his birth, but subsequent research disclosed the fact that many of the principal features of the game had been originated by Mr. Cartwright.
It is in belated recognition of this fact that the plaque is being set up this week, and it is because Mr. Cartwright spent the later years of his life in Hawaii and brought the game to the west coast and the islands that his great grandson is presenting a plaque to the city of his adoption.
Taking part in the doubleheader in Sunday’s ceremonies will be the Wanderers and the Braves, who open play at 1:15 p.m. The plaque ceremony will be held immediately after… at 3 p.m., and the second contest, between the Asahis and the Navy, will start at 3:15.
During the program Mr. Castle will announce the prizes to be offered in a series of league contests to be staged during the summer, to be known as the Cartwright series. …
Aug. 26 … has been set aside by the National Association of Professional Baseball leagues as Cartwright Day.