Celebrating 100 Years Of Baseball At The Hall Of Fame – 1939

This weekend the National Baseball Hall of Fame will honor this year’s inductees; Dick Allen, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner.

The Baseball Hall of Fame began in 1936, but  the first ceremony inducting former greats wasn’t until the museum first opened its doors on June 12, 1939.

It was all part of the ceremonies celebrating the myth that Abner Doubleday “invented” baseball in Cooperstown New York in 1939.

The news caption from our photograph above explains the scene.

AS BASEBALL TURNED A CENTURY
Decked out in plenty of chin whiskers and uniforms typical of 100 years ago, big league baseball players and old time stars turned out for this pageant celebrating the centennial anniversary of the sport at Cooperstown, NY., June 12. Photo: Associated Press, June 12, 1939

After the parade at Doubleday Field, a seven inning exhibition game was played in front of 10,000 fans. Hall of Famers, Honus Wagner and Eddie Collins chose up teams of current big leaguers and Wagner’s team featuring Joe Medwick and Arky Vaughn defeated Collins’ team 4-2.