The city of Cooperstown will forever be known as baseball’s town.  The reason for this is that the Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown and of all of the major sports Hall of Fames, baseball’s is the most prominent and special.

It was on this day, January 29th, 1936, that Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson were named the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  The baseball writer’s association voted for the 5 best players in MLB history which is how the five initial inductees were selected.

After the first five were inducted, it was decided that players would need to get a “yes” vote on 75% of the votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
And over the years, countless players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but the “first five” continue to stand out as one of the greatest induction classes ever.