Back on February 2, 1936, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner became immortalized as the inaugural class in the Baseball Hall of Fame. While the actual Hall in Cooperstown, NY would not be built for another 3 years, on this day the term Hall of Famer was born.
Baseball’s Hall of Fame started to take shape back in 1934. Stephen Clark, a Cooperstown resident, purchased a baseball used by Abner Doubleday and displayed it in Cooperstown’s Village Club. With the ball becoming a very popular attraction, baseball’s presidents and commissioner gave Clark permission to start displaying other memorabilia from across the country.