BALLSTON SPA — “Baseball is undoubtedly a pure American game, and its birthplace Cooperstown, New York, and Abner Doubleday entitled to first honor of its invention.” Abner Graves wrote these words in a letter to the editor of the Beacon Journal newspaper in 1905. Graves’ letter changed baseball history, but it was all a lie.

“This is a great example of fake news,” said Ballston Town Historian Rick Reynolds. “Fake news can take on its own life and become reality.”

Graves’ letter was written in response to Albert Spalding, founder of the Spalding sporting goods company, who was attempting to discover baseball’s origins. “Spalding felt that there needed to be a beginning for baseball, so he established a commission,” Reynolds said. Graves heard about this commission and “made up this story that Abner Doubleday was the beginning of baseball.”

Not only was Doubleday not the inventor of baseball, there’s scant evidence he had anything to do with baseball period. “He kept incredible diaries and journals of his life,” Reynolds said. “Never in any of his journals or any of his writings is baseball or anything like baseball ever mentioned.”

Doubleday is a significant figure not just in American history, but also in Ballston Spa. At 28 Washington Street stands a yellow house, now The Real McCoy brewery, that a historical marker declares is the birthplace of Major-General Abner Doubleday. The sign calls him “the founder of baseball.” 

The sign might be inaccurate on two counts. Not only is Doubleday not the inventor of baseball, but recently there’s been some doubt as to whether the house was actually his birthplace. “There’s pretty much definitive evidence that he lived there at some point, but whether he was born there is another issue,” Reynolds said.

Regardless of where Doubleday was born, he is probably the most consequential figure in American history to have lived in Ballston Spa. Doubleday was second-in-command at Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began. He was wounded at the Battle of Antietam. He commanded the second infantry division at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the war, Doubleday was a steadfast supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and accompanied the 16th president on a train ride prior to the Gettysburg Address. 

Despite this remarkable life, Doubleday is most remembered for Graves’ fictionalized account of baseball’s invention. “The Ridiculous 6,” a Netflix comedy starring Adam Sandler, lampoons Doubleday as making up baseball’s rules on the spot. In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was established in Cooperstown, thanks in large part to Graves’ letter. As recently as 1957, Ballston Spa featured a float in its sesquicentennial parade proudly declaring the Civil War hero to be the “founder of baseball.”

The true story of baseball’s creation is complex. Some historians point to 1840s New York City as the origin. Others believe the game evolved from 18th-century England, where a similar game called rounders was played. Hundreds of years ago, in both Massachusetts and the Carolinas, athletes were hitting balls with something resembling a baseball bat. The truth is that baseball probably evolved over time, in multiple places, as games played with bats and balls grew in popularity. 

Nonetheless, the sign declaring Abner Doubleday to be the sport’s founder still stands in Ballston Spa. Also still standing is Doubleday Field, a stadium at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, where baseball was not invented.

“Americans like finality,” Reynolds said. “We like to know answers to things, and sometimes there are no answers for sure.” 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — It feels like Skidmore baseball is everywhere these days. 

Last year, Thoroughbreds catcher Jackson Hornung became the first athlete in school history to be drafted by a professional team when he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the MLB Draft. Last week, former Skidmore pitching coach Mike McFerran was hired by the Oakland Athletics. As the college’s baseball program steps into the spotlight, recruiting talented players is getting easier. “We’ve seen just in terms of the overall quality of recruits, I think it’s gone up a tick certainly,” said Head Coach Ron Plourde.

With a bright horizon, Skidmore is preparing for its first game of the season on March 2 at Baruch College. “I think we have very high expectations,” Plourde said. “Despite graduating a really talented group of seniors, the bulk of our pitching is back, and we have a really good core of returners.” Although the Thoroughbreds have won recent division championships, their goal this season is to “make a good run at a Liberty League championship,” Plourde said.

With only a couple weeks until opening day, the team is looking to solidify a few positions. “Our middle infield had a complete turnover so that’s an area that we’re looking to replace,” Plourde said. “Aside from first base, we’re wide open at short, second, and third.”

The third spot in the starting rotation is also up for grabs. “We should know by the end of our Florida trip who that third guy is,” Plourde said. Skidmore is scheduled to play nine games in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida beginning March 10.

This year’s roster also features a whopping 11 freshmen, at least one or two of whom may earn some significant playing time this season.

Coach Plourde shared his team’s full roster with Saratoga TODAY:

OAKLAND, CA — Another Skidmore baseball alum has made it to the major leagues. Mike McFerran, an assistant coach and pitching coach for Skidmore College from 2017 to 2020, has been hired by the Oakland Athletics, the team announced last week.

“Mike is a phenomenal coach and an even better human being,” said Skidmore’s head baseball coach Ron Plourde. “He’s one of the brightest coaches that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

McFerran has joined the A’s player development staff as the pitching performance coach. Prior to his new role in Oakland, McFerran was the pitching lab coordinator and director of player development at Wake Forest University.

MOREAU — Last week, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hosted a pair of public hearings, one virtual and one in-person, regarding the proposed Saratoga Biochar project in Moreau. Participants were given three minutes to submit for the record their comments on whether Saratoga Biochar should be granted a permit to build a biochar manufacturing facility in the Moreau Industrial Park.

Of the 24 people who spoke at the virtual hearing, 20 opposed the Saratoga Biochar project. Dozens more spoke at the in-person hearing, with the vast majority again opposing the construction of a biochar facility in Moreau. 

Moreau resident Thomas Masso said that the Moreau Planning Board “approved the project 4-2 based entirely on the information submitted by Saratoga Biochar. That information consists of unproven theories, cherry-picked excerpts from various studies, and small sample tests.” 

David Walker, a professor at the Columbia Climate School, said that he reviewed the project two years ago but believed that unresolved concerns had not been addressed. “Given these unresolved and potentially devastating issues, it’s not surprising that the use of sewage sludge-derived biochar as an agricultural soil amendment is banned in countries like the U.K. New York should also ban that sort of use,” Walker said.

Myles Gray, program director at the U.S. Biochar Initiative, spoke in favor of the project. “In general, the process of converting biosolids into biochar is a climate solution, and it also is a pathway to eliminate forever chemicals from agricultural systems.” Kathleen Draper, who described herself as a “longtime advocate of carbonizing underutilized organic material” also spoke in support of Saratoga Biochar.

Following the public hearings, Saratoga Biochar released a statement from its president, Bryce Meeker. “Let me be clear: Saratoga Biochar Solutions is a green, environmentally and socially conscious company,” Meeker said. “We are here to alleviate the pollution burden by remediating biosolids and enabling them to be beneficially utilized as bio-fertilizer to restore soil.”

Julie Leffler is a special education teacher at Schuylerville High School. She teaches a life skills and work-based learning class. The course teaches functional academics, independent living skills, and job skills. She and her students go on several community-based instructional trips each month. During these trips, students explore the local community and utilize skills they’ve learned in the classroom.

Saratoga TODAY asked Leffler about being an educator, as well as her future plans.

What is your favorite part of being an educator?

My favorite part of being an educator is having the opportunity to watch my students grow into independent young adults during our time together.

What are some things about your job that the general public might not understand?

The pandemic changed the way education looks and the ripple effects are still being felt. In the case of my students, many programs and services they could be entering into after graduation are understaffed and not fully operating. This has been a challenge as they move into adulthood.

What are your future plans/goals?

My plan for the future is to continue teaching at Schuylerville High School.

BALLSTON SPA — At the Ballston Spa Central School District Board of Education meeting on February 7, Clerk of the Board and Records Access Officer Brian Sirianni delivered the 2025 Budget Development presentation, which focused, in part, on upcoming budgetary challenges faced by the transportation department. Sirianni listed several specific challenges, including fuel costs, electric buses, and the driver shortage.

Fuel Costs

“Fuel costs really got us a year ago and overdrew the budget significantly,” Sirianni said. This year, the district has a $380,000 budget for fuel but will likely end up spending more than $400,000. But Sirianni said that this year’s added expense is “nothing compared to where it was the year before, where we had budgeted $300,000 and it [cost] $462,000.” Sirianni said that relative to last year, the district was now “in good shape” with its fuel costs. He’s predicting that gas and diesel prices will stay about the same or decrease next year. “Hopefully that will play out,” Siriani said.

Electric Buses

Sirianni said that the state government does not have a specific plan to “fund the literally hundreds of millions of dollars that it’s going to take to pay for [electric buses].” Sirianni said the district would need to purchase around 80 zero-emissions buses, each of which will cost about $380,000. “We’re not a big school district,” he said. “Multiply that across the state; they can’t afford this.”

Sirianni said he hoped the issue would go away, but not because he doesn’t agree that carbon emissions need to be lowered. “It’s just nobody can afford this, and we’re being forced to buy buses that are going to be useless in a few years because they’re going to be out of date because the technology is changing so quickly,” he said.

Driver Shortage

Sirianni said that the district’s bus driver shortage issue was improving. “We hope that it will eventually go away in the next year or so, and we’ll be in a position to not have to call it a driver shortage anymore,” he said. “We’ll see.” 

Sirianni said that the district has been paying more to train drivers, employ substitute drivers, and recruit new drivers.

Just one week after being picked up by the New York Yankees, upstate New York native Matt Gage has been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson. The Dodgers also received 19-year-old prospect Christian Zazueta as part of the trade deal. The Yankees were in search of a bullpen southpaw following the departure of Wandy Peralta to the San Diego Padres.

Gage is an upstate New York native who attended Broadalbin-Perth High School. He pitched for Siena College before being drafted by the San Francisco Giants. Gage has pitched for both the Houston Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays for a combined 19.2 innings and 1.83 ERA.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — According to New York Racing Association VP of Communications Patrick McKenna, more than 36,000 people have signed up for pre-sale registration for the upcoming Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. 

Emails sent out Monday morning to registrants said that pre-sale would last from noon until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14.

Tickets are on sale to the general public beginning Thursday, February 15 at BelmontStakes.com/tickets. Daily attendance will be limited to 50,000.