a math textbook that was widely used in the United States in the early- to mid-1800s. After being schooled at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire from 1826 to 1828 and Amherst, Massachusetts' Mount Pleasant Classical Institution, Adams attended three colleges from 1831 to 1838. He studied at Amherst College for two years, then transferred to Yale University, where he acquired a bachelor's degree upon his graduation in 1835. Nancy Adams, Daniel's sister, indicated in a letter penned in the early 1830s that he began playing with "bats and balls" by this time. Adams continued his studies at Harvard Medical School through 1838, obtaining an MD. Following his time in college, he joined his father's medical practice. The pair worked in Mont Vernon, before the younger Adams relocated twice, first to Boston and then to New York City. Adams also worked for the New York Dispensaries, which provided medical care to poor residents. He offered his assistance when outbreaks of cholera affected New York City. For providing vaccinations, Adams received yearly pay of $400 for a time. His field of employment gave rise to his nickname of "Doc", which was given as "Dock" at the time. Playing career According to baseball historian John Thorn, 1839 is the year Adams became a baseball player. In an 1896 interview in The Sporting News, Adams said that "soon after going to New York I began to play base ball just for exercise, with a number of other young medical men." Starting in 1840, he was a player with the New York Base Ball Club. This team had been founded in 1837, eight years earlier than the New York Knickerbockers, who are credited in several baseball histories as pioneering the modern version of baseball. Adams played an early form of the game, but Thorn writes that he "understood [it] to be baseball, no matter what it was called". Adams received an invitation to become a member of the Knickerbockers a month or so after the team's September 23, 1845, creation. He accepted and joined the club along with other men in the medical field; he later said that players from the New York Base Ball Club were behind the formation of the Knickerbockers. Records of the club's practice games indicate that he was a member of the Knickerbockers by November 18, 1845. In an inter-squad game held that day, which was the Knickerbockers' last