The weekend of June 12, 1939, in Cooperstown, N.Y., must have seemed like a fairytale to those patrons fortunate enough to witness the grand opening of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. On the 100th anniversary of our National Pastime, it was decided that twelve of the 26 men already selected as members of the Hall of Fame would be formally enshrined for the inaugural induction ceremony. Eleven of those baseball immortals were able to attend this monumental event: Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Eddie Collins and Connie Mack. Everyone but an ill Lou Gehrig, who was being treated for a mysterious disease that very weekend at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He would receive his dreadful diagnosis a week later.
During this time 21-year-old Georga [sic] Geigel, on her summer break from college, was working at the local Cooper Inn where many of the Original Eleven were staying as well as dozens of other players, coaches and baseball executives there for the festivities. She wisely purchased a souvenir bat and ball at the Cooperstown gift shop with the intention of getting as many autographs as possible, and she did quite an amazing job. The bat may have proven too difficult to pass around the hotel, so she procured 25 autographs on this special ball including 15 current Hall of Famers with seven of the Original 11 inductees. Ruth, Wagner, Johnson, Alexander, Sisler, Mack and Lajoie, the latter even dating it “6-12-39” for good measure. Hubbell, Herman, Stengel, Barrow, Hartnett, Greenberg, Medwick and Lloyd Waner round out the other eight HOF members. Besides longtime National League President John A. Heydler, the rest identifiable (Vander Meer, Lavagetto, Hack, MacFayden, Eddie Miller, Selkirk and Jimmie Wilson) were invited to play an exhibition All-Star game, which became an annual tradition every induction weekend on Doubleday Field. The inaugural game was known as the Cavalcade of Baseball, with Wagner and Collins coaching each team.
The Spalding regulation-size ball that holds these incredible signatures is stamped with a baseball diamond enclosing “National Baseball Museum Hall of Fame Cooperstown New York” and has some separation of the leather along one section of red stitching. There is a scuff Other than that the ball presents in fine shape with light evenly distributed cream-colored toning. The autographs are all done in a uniformly similar 6-7/10 black fountain pen. The Ruth is still clean and fairly strong, rating 7/10 in our book. The late 1930’s Spalding store model bat (34”) is unsigned with the same Hall of Fame branded logo on the barrel.
The other items add good value and further cement the provenance of this wonderful 1939 Inaugural Hall of Fame collection. Georga apparently attended the Cavalcade game as she kept her ticket stub, which is signed (and apparently traced according to PSA) on the front by Dizzy Dean (HOF) who played for Team Collins; the back has her handwritten notes of all the players that participated in the game. The official “1839-1939 Baseball Centennial Celebration at Doubleday Field” red, white and blue program in EX condition (sharp colors, all pages intact, slight tearing on side binding) she saved is penned with her full name “Georga Anne Geigel” on the cover. Next is a smaller (4x9) blue and white fold-out program/booklet with the calendar of events for the May 6 to Sept. 4, 1939 Baseball Centennial festivities that summer in Cooperstown.
She also kept three Cooper Inn postcards and a menu from the hotel’s dining room. There’s even a 4x6 original photograph of Babe Ruth standing outside the Cooper Inn (based on the building’s brick constructs), taken the day of his induction. A second 8x10 photo (mostly likely 2nd or 3rd generation) of the famous publicity shot picturing all inaugural inductees together (minus Cobb) shows The Babe in the exact same outfit! You will be hard-pressed to find such a perfectly connected group of items that so eloquently commemorate one of the most important days in American sports history.
Full LOA from PSA/DNA for the ball. The ticket stub was deemed authentic by PSA/DNA but Dean’s signature was traced. Letter of provenance from Georga’s son.