Jan

FIRST BASEBALL HALL OF FAME ELECTIONS

Which state has the most Hall of Fame baseball players? | OurQuadCities

On January 29, 1936, the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elected
its first members in Cooperstown, New York: Ty Cobb, Babe
Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson.

The Hall of Fame actually had its beginnings in 1935, when
plans were made to build a museum devoted to baseball
and its 100-year history.

A private organization based in Cooperstown called the Clark
Foundation thought that establishing the Baseball Hall of
Fame in their city would help to reinvigorate the area’s
Depression-ravaged economy by attracting tourists.

To help sell the idea, the foundation advanced the idea that
U.S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in
Cooperstown.

The story proved to be phony, but baseball officials, eager
to capitalize on the marketing and publicity potential of a
museum to honor the game’s greats, gave their support to
the project anyway.

MLB's First Class. The Inaugural Batch of Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, 1936. Cobb and Ruth.