Cool look back. It's an interesting point that the notion of a (virtual) "hall of fame" probably predates any physical ones by ages. It might be interesting to try to nail down the first general uses of the term as a metaphor for excellence in anything.
FWIW, I decided a while back that a lot of the debate about who belongs depends on whether one sees the HoF as a shrine to baseball or a museum of baseball. It seems reasonable to exclude, for instance, Pete Rose from a shrine, but equally reasonable to include him (and many others) in a museum of baseball. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have both.
Yeah - I suspect that the first use of the term in the United States came after the museum in Germany was established in the 19th century. It might be interesting to look back further and check, however.
And, actually, if you visit the Hall of Fame you'll notice that they have Pete Rose stuff in the museum section itself. Or that's how it was when I last went in 2001, at least. Honestly, the shrine part was the only boring part of the tour.
Yeah, that kind of makes sense. Shrines can be a bit rarified, but I like a good museum. As a Twins fan, I’ve long wanted to visit Chicago for a Chi-Sox game (and a Cubs game) as well as driving down to K.C. to see the Royals. Just never got around to it so far. I learned recently about the NLBM in K.C., which makes that trip even more interesting.
And I do hope to visit Cooperstown someday, but I’m not much of a traveler anymore. Age is a sneaky persistent thief.
Very nice work. I knew the early MVP selections (starting with the Chalmers award) made previous winners ineligible to win again, but I hadn't thought about the names being aggregated to create a physical hall of fame monument. I knew the Hall of Fame for Great Americans started in 1900, long before baseball's, though I didn't know it had a palatial building. When Cleveland brought up a pitcher named Steve Foster in the 1990s, I wrote that he had a Hall of Fame name -- the 19th-century songwriter (Hard Times Come Again No More, S'wannee River) had been chosen years earlier. The Bavarian building was a surprise to me. I had thought HOFs were an American invention, a product of the fact that unlike Great Britain and much of early 20th-century Europe, people here couldn't be given a noble title. (A Welsh correspondent of mine had no idea what a Hall of Famer was.)
Utterly fascinating. I have been aware of baseball and followed Cleveland for all of my 62 years and until now never knew of these 100-year-plus-old articles and essays. I love the 1915 essay describing baseball as a “venerable” and “vigorous” institution. Wonderful!
Cool look back. It's an interesting point that the notion of a (virtual) "hall of fame" probably predates any physical ones by ages. It might be interesting to try to nail down the first general uses of the term as a metaphor for excellence in anything.
FWIW, I decided a while back that a lot of the debate about who belongs depends on whether one sees the HoF as a shrine to baseball or a museum of baseball. It seems reasonable to exclude, for instance, Pete Rose from a shrine, but equally reasonable to include him (and many others) in a museum of baseball. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have both.
Yeah - I suspect that the first use of the term in the United States came after the museum in Germany was established in the 19th century. It might be interesting to look back further and check, however.
And, actually, if you visit the Hall of Fame you'll notice that they have Pete Rose stuff in the museum section itself. Or that's how it was when I last went in 2001, at least. Honestly, the shrine part was the only boring part of the tour.
Yeah, that kind of makes sense. Shrines can be a bit rarified, but I like a good museum. As a Twins fan, I’ve long wanted to visit Chicago for a Chi-Sox game (and a Cubs game) as well as driving down to K.C. to see the Royals. Just never got around to it so far. I learned recently about the NLBM in K.C., which makes that trip even more interesting.
And I do hope to visit Cooperstown someday, but I’m not much of a traveler anymore. Age is a sneaky persistent thief.
Very nice work. I knew the early MVP selections (starting with the Chalmers award) made previous winners ineligible to win again, but I hadn't thought about the names being aggregated to create a physical hall of fame monument. I knew the Hall of Fame for Great Americans started in 1900, long before baseball's, though I didn't know it had a palatial building. When Cleveland brought up a pitcher named Steve Foster in the 1990s, I wrote that he had a Hall of Fame name -- the 19th-century songwriter (Hard Times Come Again No More, S'wannee River) had been chosen years earlier. The Bavarian building was a surprise to me. I had thought HOFs were an American invention, a product of the fact that unlike Great Britain and much of early 20th-century Europe, people here couldn't be given a noble title. (A Welsh correspondent of mine had no idea what a Hall of Famer was.)
Utterly fascinating. I have been aware of baseball and followed Cleveland for all of my 62 years and until now never knew of these 100-year-plus-old articles and essays. I love the 1915 essay describing baseball as a “venerable” and “vigorous” institution. Wonderful!