BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York and operated by private interests. It serves as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, displays baseball-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations."
The word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand (or a metonym) for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Hall of Fame was dedicated on June 12, 1939. Stephen Carlton Clark was owner of a local hotel and sought to bring tourists to Cooperstown, which had been suffering economically when the Great Depression significantly reduced the local tourist trade and Prohibition devastated the local hops industry. His granddaughter, Jane Forbes Clark, is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors. The erroneous claim that U.S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, a claim made by former National League president Abraham G. Mills and his 1905 Mills Commission, was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall.
An $8 million library and research facility opened in 1994. Dale Petroskey became the organization's president in 1999.
In 2002, Baseball As America was launched, a traveling exhibit that toured ten American museums over six years. The Hall of Fame has also sponsored educational programming on the Internet to bring the Hall of Fame to schoolchildren who might not visit. The Hall and Museum completed a series of renovations in spring 2005. The Hall of Fame also presents an annual exhibit at FanFest at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Jeff Idelson replaced Petroskey as president on April 16, 2008. He had been acting as president since March 25, 2008, when his predecessor was forced to resign for "fail[ing] to exercise proper fiduciary responsibility" while making "judgments that were not in the best interest of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum."
On October 26, 2011 the United States House of Representatives passed the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act that was introduced by Rep. Richard Hanna (R).
The word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand (or a metonym) for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Hall of Fame was dedicated on June 12, 1939. Stephen Carlton Clark was owner of a local hotel and sought to bring tourists to Cooperstown, which had been suffering economically when the Great Depression significantly reduced the local tourist trade and Prohibition devastated the local hops industry. His granddaughter, Jane Forbes Clark, is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors. The erroneous claim that U.S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, a claim made by former National League president Abraham G. Mills and his 1905 Mills Commission, was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall.
An $8 million library and research facility opened in 1994. Dale Petroskey became the organization's president in 1999.
In 2002, Baseball As America was launched, a traveling exhibit that toured ten American museums over six years. The Hall of Fame has also sponsored educational programming on the Internet to bring the Hall of Fame to schoolchildren who might not visit. The Hall and Museum completed a series of renovations in spring 2005. The Hall of Fame also presents an annual exhibit at FanFest at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Jeff Idelson replaced Petroskey as president on April 16, 2008. He had been acting as president since March 25, 2008, when his predecessor was forced to resign for "fail[ing] to exercise proper fiduciary responsibility" while making "judgments that were not in the best interest of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum."
On October 26, 2011 the United States House of Representatives passed the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act that was introduced by Rep. Richard Hanna (R).
The Doubleday Myth is Cooperstown's gain
Pastoral village has become the heart of baseball folklore Cooperstown. It's a place that's pure Americana, a one-stoplight town nestled between the Adirondacks and the Catskills in Central New York, with its name drawn from the family of James Fenimore Cooper, whose works of literature have become American standards.
Abner Doubleday (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
So it's fitting that Cooperstown has become synonymous with another American standard – baseball – thanks to a story about a Civil War general and the country's enduring love for a timeless game.
By the last half of the 19th Century, baseball had emerged as the National Pastime. The United States was a little more than 100 years old, and baseball had evolved with the country. But there was no definitive answer as to the birth of the game.
Enter the Spalding Commission, a board created by sporting goods magnate and former major league player A.G. Spalding to establish the genesis of baseball. After a few years of searching, they found their answer.
It came from Abner Graves, a mining engineer who proclaimed that Abner Doubleday – a decorated Union Army officer who directed the first shot at Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil war and later served at the Battle of Gettysburg – invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown.
That account was good enough for the Spalding Commission, which came to it's conclusion in 1907.
Three decades later, Stephen C. Clark – seeking a way to celebrate and protect the National Pastime as well as create an economic engine for his hometown – asked National League president Ford. C. Frick if the would support the establishment of a Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The idea was welcomed, and in 1936 the inaugural Hall of Fame class of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner was elected.
Three years later – on June 12, 1939 – the Hall of Fame building officially opened.
To mark the occasion, Time magazine wrote:
"The world will little note nor long remember what (Doubleday) did at Gettysburg, but it can never forget what he did at Cooperstown."
The Doubleday Myth has since been exposed. Doubleday was at West Point in 1839, yet "The Myth" has grown so strong that the facts will never deter the spirit of Cooperstown. (References to baseball games in America date back to the 18th Century. It's now accepted that Alexander Cartwright developed rules in the 1840s that are the basis for the modern game.)
As a result, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum continues to thrive as an unrivaled sports shrine in the town where baseball's pulse still beats the strongest.
Pastoral village has become the heart of baseball folklore Cooperstown. It's a place that's pure Americana, a one-stoplight town nestled between the Adirondacks and the Catskills in Central New York, with its name drawn from the family of James Fenimore Cooper, whose works of literature have become American standards.
Abner Doubleday (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
So it's fitting that Cooperstown has become synonymous with another American standard – baseball – thanks to a story about a Civil War general and the country's enduring love for a timeless game.
By the last half of the 19th Century, baseball had emerged as the National Pastime. The United States was a little more than 100 years old, and baseball had evolved with the country. But there was no definitive answer as to the birth of the game.
Enter the Spalding Commission, a board created by sporting goods magnate and former major league player A.G. Spalding to establish the genesis of baseball. After a few years of searching, they found their answer.
It came from Abner Graves, a mining engineer who proclaimed that Abner Doubleday – a decorated Union Army officer who directed the first shot at Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil war and later served at the Battle of Gettysburg – invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown.
That account was good enough for the Spalding Commission, which came to it's conclusion in 1907.
Three decades later, Stephen C. Clark – seeking a way to celebrate and protect the National Pastime as well as create an economic engine for his hometown – asked National League president Ford. C. Frick if the would support the establishment of a Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The idea was welcomed, and in 1936 the inaugural Hall of Fame class of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner was elected.
Three years later – on June 12, 1939 – the Hall of Fame building officially opened.
To mark the occasion, Time magazine wrote:
"The world will little note nor long remember what (Doubleday) did at Gettysburg, but it can never forget what he did at Cooperstown."
The Doubleday Myth has since been exposed. Doubleday was at West Point in 1839, yet "The Myth" has grown so strong that the facts will never deter the spirit of Cooperstown. (References to baseball games in America date back to the 18th Century. It's now accepted that Alexander Cartwright developed rules in the 1840s that are the basis for the modern game.)
As a result, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum continues to thrive as an unrivaled sports shrine in the town where baseball's pulse still beats the strongest.