Baseball's Creation Myth & How The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum Arrived in Cooperstown

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Abraham G. Mills - Image Credit |
In order to prove his point, Spalding convened the "Mills Commission" - a blue-ribbon committee made up of a group of prominent men with expertise in the game of baseball - to investigate and analyze the origins of America's favorite pastime. Heading the committee and giving it its name was the fourth President of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, Abraham G. Mills who, along with six others, didn't take the investigation any further than the word of a 71-year-old mining engineer from Denver, Colorado named Abner Graves who told a story about how Abner Doubleday was the man responsible for improving on a local version of "Town Ball" that was being played in 1839 between students of the Otsego Academy and Green's Select School in Cooperstown which Doubleday attended while living in town with his uncle.
Upon receiving this nugget of news and not getting any additional or more solid evidence to go by in spite of three years time spent looking, Commissioner Mills most likely rubbed his hands in glee thinking that it didn't get much more American than for baseball to have gotten its start at the hands of a popular military general from America's Civil War in a picturesque little town at the headwaters of the Susquehanna River! In 1908 he composed and presented the "Mills Commission Report" which set forth the commission's two chief findings: 1) that “base ball had its origins in the United States” and 2) that “the first scheme for playing it, according to the best evidence available to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday, at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.”
Well ... had the Mills Commission bothered to investigate Mr. Graves' claim even just a little bit rather than taking at face value the story from a reportedly reputable gentleman - who had a penchant for telling tall tales like the one where he rode with the Pony Express in 1852 even though they weren't created until 1860 - they would have found out that Abner Doubleday himself never once claimed to have invented the game and he wasn't even in Cooperstown at the time of the alleged conception and birth of baseball as he was over 150 miles away attending West Point Military Academy. The commission didn't do any additional investigating though and the quaint village of Cooperstown, New York was proclaimed to be "The Birthplace of Baseball" {cue the angels singing ...♪♫♬ aaaaaahhhhhh!!! ♫♪♬}
The Knickerbocker Baseball Club - Image Credit |
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The "Doubleday Baseball" on display at the Hall of Fame |
Stephen C. Clark - Image Credit |
With baseball's 100th birthday looming on the horizon in three years' time, plans were announced in March of 1936 for 27 days' worth of celebrations in 1939 in Cooperstown that would tie the game's Centennial in with the opening of a new museum and Hall of Fame. Though the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, the nationwide party was sponsored in part by a $100,000 grant from the major leagues in an effort to try to draw people back to the ballparks and would also include Doubleday Field, Cooperstown's full-fledged ballpark which had been built in 1923 on the pasture that was the site of the legendary 1839 Abner Doubleday game, .
Financed in part by Stephen Clark who used $44,000 of his own money to help convert the village's gym to a museum and who became its first president (serving for 21 years), the new National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened on June 12, 1939 throwing its doors open to a crowd of 10,000 fans who had made the pilgrimage to Cooperstown to celebrate the official dedication of what could really only be described as a shrine to America's Favorite Pastime.
Fans packed onto Main Street and watched as the eleven living members of the first class of 25 immortals inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame - including Babe Ruth and Cy Young - strode up the front steps of the new one-room museum while a band played “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” After the heads of the American, National and minor leagues severed the red, white and blue ribbons that stretched across the building’s entrance, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was officially declared open to the public and has been the mecca of baseball fans both old and young alike ever since.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to set the record straight, in 1953 Congress declared Alexander Cartwright and not Abner Doubleday to have been the person to officially invent the game but regardless of the fact that Cooperstown never really was the "Birthplace of Baseball" but simply the dream of a group of men who really wanted it to be, baseball is still king in Cooperstown and I couldn't think of a better place for it to be as the village is still everything that baseball was when it first got its start all those years ago. There's no glitz and glamour, no towering stadiums with room for 50,000+ fans who practically have to mortgage their house to afford decent seats and a hot dog or two, no gigantic parking garages where you walk around for hours trying to remember where you put your car ... Nope, it's small-town America at its best where it's easy to believe that dreams really do come true and that you can make it to the Big Show through hard work, determination, and maybe even a little bit of luck.

Founded in 1939 as part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Baseball Library is by far the largest repository of baseball information in the world containing over 2.5 million items which are housed in climate-controlled areas and maintained by a professional staff using state-of-the-art archival techniques. Some of those items include the box scores of every professional baseball game ever played, the complete collections of Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and Sporting Life, and over 100,000 autographs. The library's photo collection contains more than 500,000 historic images of players, teams, ballparks and other baseball subjects while the film, video and recorded sound archive contains more than 10,000 hours of footage dating back to the late 19th century including an extensive collection of Hollywood movies featuring baseball.

Renovated seven times since first opening its doors in 1939, the last renovation of the Hall of Fame in 2005 added 10,000 additional square feet of exhibition space along with better accessibility for those with special needs, up-to-date and more interactive technology along with a more consistent environment for the preservation of the collections. Upon completion of the three-year, $20-million renovation, the museum held a re-dedication ceremony on July 29, 2005 in which thirty-eight Hall of Fame members were present to cut the ribbon and welcome guests to the new and improved museum. Currently, the Hall of Fame welcomes over 300,000 visitors annually.
Visits to the Baseball Hall of Fame are self-guided so you can take your time as you make your way through the many exhibits or even leave for a bit and come back later in the day to continue your tour - just be sure to get your hand-stamped! The best way to start your visit is on the second floor in the Grandstand Theater where the 13-minute digital multi-media presentation the "Baseball Experience" will have you singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by the time it’s over – literally! From there you can visit The Cooperstown Room which tells the story of baseball's origins and Cooperstown's place in the game's history (including a chance to view the "Doubleday Baseball") before continuing on to explore the museum's three floors chock-full of exhibits which include "Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball," "Baseball at the Movies," "Sacred Ground," "Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend" and so much more.
A highlight for baseball lovers of all ages is the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery on the first floor which houses the bronze plaques of the (as of this writing) 312 baseball greats who have been elected to receive the game's highest achievement of being immortalized in the gallery. While you're there looking for the plaques of your favorite Hall of Famers, be sure to take a look at the amazing life-size wooden sculptures of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams carved by self-taught Rhode Island artist/sculptor/craftsman Armand LaMontagne. Made completely from wood, you'll swear that you're looking at cloth, leather, and other materials and that these guys are going to take a swing at some unseen baseball coming towards them as they're simply just that realistic.
If you're looking for something a little more in-depth and special, the Baseball Hall of Fame offers VIP Experiences, Extra Inning Overnights, and even a Custom Tour Experience which includes a private artifact spotlight featuring items currently not on display in the Museum followed by a brief guided tour of the Museum highlighting your favorite team. To see what sort of events might be coming up during a time that you're thinking of visiting, be sure to check out the museum's Events page on their website and if you'd like some help and/or ideas when it comes to planning a trip, there are even Hall of Fame Travel Packages available with a wide variety of options from which to chose.
At the end of your tour, don't forget to take a turn through the museum's gift shop where you can find all sorts of MLB gear and clothing, books, postcards, knick-knacks, and other souvenirs to remind you of your visit. If you forgot something, not to worry - it's all available online!

Since 2009, Doubleday Field has been the site of the Hall of Fame Classic - an exhibition game involving Hall of Famers and other retired MLB players. The game was originally played on Father's Day weekend but in recent years was moved to the Saturday before Memorial Day. In addition to the Classic, today Doubleday Field is used primarily for amateur and American Legion ball as well as a variety of other tournaments. For more information, be sure to check out their Facebook page and see what sort of events may be happening at one of the country's original fields of dreams.
As a final note, something to keep in mind when planning your trip to Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame - there's not a heck of a lot of parking in the village and what is there is very strictly enforced, During summer months, a limited amount of all-day and hourly parking is available for a fee in Doubleday Field Parking Lot but if you aren't staying nearby and can walk to the Main Street area, it's highly advisable to take advantage of the free parking areas and ride the Cooperstown Trolley System which will bring you to the museums, Main Street shopping, and other points of interest in the village. In operation from late May through Labor Day, trolleys run daily from 8:30 a.m, to 9:00 p.m. and cost $2.00 per person. Tickets can be used for unlimited rides on a given day so it's really a great deal and saves a lot of parking headaches.
For more information to help plan your trip to wander around Cooperstown, be sure to visit This Is Cooperstown where you'll find all you need to know about events, lodging, dining, and more!
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