Womack: Memorial to mythical founder Doubleday laid the groundwork for Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
From SABR member Graham Womack at The National Pastime Museum on July 14, 2017:
In the first few pages of his 1994 book, The Politics of Glory, Bill James focused on the Clark family of the Singer sewing machine fortune, their administrator Alexander Cleland, and then-National League President Ford Frick as driving forces in getting the Hall of Fame and its accompanying museum built.
But, as one-time Hall of Fame Director Ken Smith pointed out in his 1952 book, Baseball’s Hall of Fame, had work not been diligently maintained years before to build Doubleday Field “there might not have been a Hall of Fame, for it was the ball grounds that gave root to the entire venture.”
Precursors to Cooperstown had included Harry Pulliam’s private hall of fame in his New York offices while he served as president of the National League from 1903 to 1909. Hugh Chalmers had also attempted to honor excellence in baseball by having sportswriters vote on most valuable players for each league from 1911 to 1914. These and other early efforts to create a hall of fame didn’t focus on Cooperstown, however.
Read the full article here: https://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/memorial-mythical-founder-abner-doubleday-lays-groundwork-hall-fame-cooperstown
Originally published: July 17, 2017. Last Updated: July 17, 2017.