#Shortstops: Taking Stock of Cartwright
Hall of Famer Alexander J. Cartwright spent most of his life in Hawaii far removed from the influential Knickerbocker Base Ball Club he helped to establish in the early 1840s.
Cartwright left New York for California during the Gold Rush of 1849 and quickly continued on to Hawaii, where he became a notable citizen in Honolulu, serving as the city’s first appointed fire chief and as a trusted advisor to Queen Emma of Hawaii. Cartwright eventually became the executor of her estate, helping to transfer the bulk of it to Queen’s Hospital upon Emma’s death in 1885.
In addition to his duties as advisor and fire chief, Cartwright was named consul to Peru and was on the financial committee for Honolulu’s Centennial Celebration of American Independence in 1876. He went on to found the Honolulu Library and Reading Room in 1879, notably advocating for women and children to be eligible for membership. The Library’s holdings eventually became the foundation of the Hawaiian State Library.
Cartwright was also elected to the board of trustees of the American Club of Honolulu, a social club for Americans in a city still under the rule of the Hawaiian monarchy, on Aug. 15, 1868.
A stock certificate, good for one $100 share of stock in the Club (equivalent to $2,320 today), was issued to Cartwright on Sept. 1, 1868, two weeks after his election to trustee. Cartwright had been a member of the club since at least 1857, and the certificate’s number, two, indicates Cartwright’s prominence within the Club and Honolulu in general.
While Cartwright’s role in the establishment of baseball’s formal rules and his role in propagating the game remain contested, this certificate serves as a reminder that he lived a fascinating life outside of his involvement with baseball. In fact, Cartwright’s obituary in 1892 doesn’t make any mention of baseball, instead focusing on his exploits in California and Hawaii: There are several sites in Honolulu bearing Cartwright’s name. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum preserves a digital copy of the certificate while the original resides in the Hawaiian State Archives in Honolulu.
Caleb Ritter was the Library/Giamatti Research Center intern in the 2026 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
