backed a motion for nine-inning contests, which passed. These changes were incorporated in the "Laws of Base Ball", written by Adams. He authored the initial draft of the regulations with what The New York Times''' Richard Sandomir called "an upright script and strong hand." The "Laws" included regulations governing bat and ball sizes, and a ban on betting by players and umpires. Fellow Knickerbocker William H. Grenelle copied Adams' work onto blue pages, and modifications and notations were made as the convention progressed. Among other changes, part of the rule Adams had written on game length was crossed out; the number nine was replaced with seven, before the motion that settled the issue was introduced. In March, the Knickerbockers changed their rules to match those passed at the convention. In May 1857, Adams presided over a player convention where nine-inning games were officially made part of the rules of baseball for participating teams. Distance between bases and campaign against bound rule In March 1858, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was formed at another convention. Adams was one of the Knickerbockers' two delegates, having been selected at a February meeting attended by representatives from 25 clubs. He held the chairmanship of the association's rules and regulations committee, and drafted the new organization's initial set of rules. These included a clarification of the prescribed distance between bases, which under Knickerbocker Rules had been set at "forty-two paces" between home plate and second base, and "forty-two paces, equidistant" between first and third base. Historians differ on whether the bases were roughly apart, or a shorter distance. Thorn has written that the pace itself may have been "an imprecise and variable measure, to gauge distances by 'stepping off'," and Adams described the rule as "rather vague." At the 1857 convention, it was decided that bases would be "securely fastened upon the four corners of a square whose sides are roughly thirty yards." As rules committee chairman for the new NABBP, Adams made the baselines from one base to another, the distance seen in modern baseball. He ruled on the distance between home plate and the pitcher's mound as well, making them apart. In addition, the committee mandated that clubs have nine players per side, which became the norm. It also created the called strike rule, in an effort to reduce pitch totals and the time required to play games. Adams campaigned