It is a unique name.

So you would think University of Maine at Farmington senior pitcher-infielder Ray Doubleday would get asked about his ancestry on a regular basis.

And his reply would be, “yes,” he is indeed related to Abner Doubleday, the controversial inventor of the game of baseball.

“He was my great, great, great grandfather,” said Ray Doubleday.

Doubleday was credited with creating the rules of the game in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839 based on the written testimony of one of his boyhood friends, Abner Graves.

But several publications have disputed the claim. One publication maintained that baseball was being played in the late 1700s in Pittsfield, Mass.

Still, to many, the name Doubleday and baseball are synonymous.

Ray Doubleday has researched his famous ancestor’s career “a little bit, but not a whole lot. My grandfather [Wayne] has done most of that.”

He has only been quizzed about it once during his career at UMF.

“I heard only one comment when I was in the field my freshman year,” said Ray. “I think a lot of guys see the name and figure ‘It can’t be.’

“A lot of people know [the name] because of the bookstore. They don’t really put two and two together,” said Ray. “Surprisingly enough, I’ve actually stumped a lot of people who thought they were real big baseball fans. I’ll ask them if they know who Abner Doubleday is and they’ll say, ‘No, I don’t.'”

Ray Doubleday said he doesn’t know that much about his famous ancestor and added that what he has learned he obtained from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

He does know Abner Doubleday was a famous Union general during the Civil War “and was pretty severe [strict] as far as that goes.”

“It must have been pretty nice to be in the Army and play baseball in his off time,” said Ray, a native of Lisbon, N.H.

Abner Doubleday retired from the Army in 1873, moved to San Francisco, and was credited with establishing that city’s first cable car company.

He was born in Ballston Spa, N.Y., and graduated from West Point in 1842.

There is an extended lineage of baseball players in the Doubleday family.

“Basically, every male played it and my sister, Jennifer, played softball,” said Ray Doubleday. “My great grandfather, Ray, was actually drafted to go to the Orioles, but he had just lost his wife in a fire so he had to take care of [son] Wayne and his family. Back then, you only made about 100 bucks a month to play and you really can’t raise a family on that. It kind of put him in a tight situation.”

Doubleday is proud of his heritage and his great, great, great grandfather’s link to the sport he loves.

“Look at what we have. It’s America’s game. There’s nothing I’d rather play, that’s for sure. I know a lot of the guys say the same thing,” said Ray. “I don’t know of too many little kids who haven’t dreamed about playing professional baseball somewhere.”