The Baseball Hall of Fame Opens

On June 12, 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cooperstown, New York, timed to coincide with what was then believed to be the sport's centennial, based on the now-discredited legend that Abner Doubleday invented baseball there in 1839.

The ceremony brought together the living members of the Hall's first classes, elected between 1936 and 1939, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson, for what was the first and only time so many of the game's early legends appeared together in one place.

Cooperstown has hosted the Hall of Fame ever since, despite having no historical connection to baseball's actual origins, and the museum now houses artifacts spanning the entire history of the sport.