Field Dedication
CARTWRIGHT
On April 17, 2025, Cartwright Field in Makiki, Honolulu, was officially dedicated as the oldest active baseball field in the country. The dedication ceremony, held in honor of Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr.'s 205th birthday (the "father of modern baseball"), included a new sign recognizing the field's historical significance. The mayor also presented custom Louisville slugger bats commemorating the field's designation.
Cartwright Field has been the site of baseball games since 1852, making it the longest continuously operating baseball field in the United States. A new sign was unveiled, officially recognizing Cartwright Field as the oldest active baseball field in the country. The event involved various community groups, including the Honolulu Fire Department and the "Friends of Alexander Cartwright," showcasing the field's importance to the local baseball community.
Alexander J. Cartwright Jr.
The traditions of the game were passed down orally until Cartwright and Knickerbocker Baseball Club Committee codified fourteen rules of the game in 1845. Some of these new rules included the dimensions and layout of the bases and field and the distinction between fair and foul territory. Setting the number of players to nine and fixing the length of the game to nine innings were later added by Cartwright.
As Queen Emma’s trusted advisor, Cartwright managed all of her holdings and engaged in protecting the interest of the Queen’s estate. He accessed, surveyed, and fi led boundaries with the land commissioners of all the neglected land holdings that were given to Queen Emma by royal patent or personal acquisition. Appointed Honolulu’s first Fire Chief by King Kamehameha III. During his ten year-long career, he wrote the Fire Department’s first bylaws and raised money to acquire the department’s first hand engine pump, carriage, apparatus, fi re engine, permanent fi re house, and the upkeep of all the equipment.
Cartwright played a key role in the founding of Queen’s Medical Center. He participated in the ritual of laying the cornerstone of the hospital, wrote the charter and bylaws of the hospital, and appointed a trustee of the hospital.
Designated financial advisor by King Kamehameha V, King Lunalilo, and King Kalākaua. Cartwright was not only able to speak and write in Hawaiian, but was gifted the name U Moe O A.J. Kahalaeka.
As one of the founders of the Honolulu Library and Reading Room, he donated most of the library’s fi rst two hundred books from his own collections and notably advocated for women and children to be allowed to obtain library membership.
