The Hall That Started It All

Related Stories

• Rock Hall's Locks
• The Bud Collins History of Tennis
• Warren Zanes' Double Life
• Discovering Toronto
• Nashville Skyline: If You Go

It doesn't matter. McCarthy, Lindstrom and Wallace have their fans, I'm sure, and Story, Peabody and Kent probably do too. The important thing about the original Hall of Fame as far as sports are concerned is that it was the model for the first sports hall, the baseball one at Cooperstown. In the 1930s, when the NYU Hall was still famous, and the American economy was scraping bottom because of the terrible economic Depression, baseball was staggering through a deep decline in attendance. Ford Frick, newly-elected president of the National League, trying to come up with ways to stimulate interest in the game, pounced on the suggestion to create a baseball hall of fame along the lines of The Hall of Fame of Great Americans. A super idea.

Cooperstown, the legendary (if not factual) birthplace of the game, was selected as the site. The renowned Clarke family of Cooperstown had made a fortune from the Singer Sewing Machine company, which had started in Cooperstown, and were eager to do something for their home town. They embraced the baseball idea and made it go. The first batch of heroes – Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth et al – were elected, appeared in the flesh at Cooperstown for the appropriate ceremonies, and the idea became reality. Football, basketball, horse racing, motor sports and the rest followed suit, and the sports hall of fame – how many are there now? – became an indelible part of America.

But please remember that it all started in the colonnade on University Heights in the Bronx.