On January 29, 1936, the first players were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The inductees included Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.
The Corsicana (Texas) Daily Sun published the following photo illustration and story a few weeks later.
Corsicana (Texas) Daily Sun, February 10, 1936
“Players and sportswriters voting in the poll to select players meriting places in baseball’s hall of fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., could agree on only five men — although scheduled to pick ten — to represent the period from 1900 to the present day.
Top choice was Ty Cobb (foreground), the ‘Georgia Peach,’ who set a staggering assortment of records in his stormy playing career with the Detroit Tigers. He received 222 votes, only four short of unanimous.
The others chosen, left to right, were Babe Ruth and Hans Wagner, who polled 215 votes each; Christy Mathewson, next with 206, and Walter Johnson, fireball king, who qualified with 189.
In the background is the memorial hall in Cooperstown where baseball’s centennial will be celebrated in 1939.”
Here are some links to newsreel or other film footage about the first Baseball Hall of Fame inductees:
— Ty Cobb
— Babe Ruth
— Honus Wagner
— Christy Mathewson
— Walter Johnson
“The names of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Hans Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson will be perpetuated in baseball’s hall of fame, but fandom will have to wait another year to learn who their five mates of the modern era will be.
….There were no doubts in the minds of players and sportswriters who cast 226 votes in the poll, that these five merited places in the Memorial Hall to be erected at Cooperstown, N.Y.
….A poll to name five pre-1900 stars for the hall of fame was completely futile, none receiving the 75 per cent minimum necessary to elect.”
— “Cobb, Ruth, Wagner, Mathewson and Johnson
Voted Places in Baseball’s Hall of Fame”
Excerpt from AP story published
in the Sedalia (Missouri) Democrat, February 3, 1936
This video was produced for the 75th anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
