The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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| Established | 1936 (dedicated June 12, 1939) |
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| Location | Cooperstown, New York, U.S. |
| Type | Professional sports hall of fame |
| Visitors | 315,000/year (average as of 2009) |
| Director | Jeff Idelson (since 2008) |
| Website | baseballhall.org |
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located in Cooperstown, New York, and operated by private interests. It serves as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, displays baseball-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations."
The word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand (or a metonym) for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Hall of Fame was established in 1939 by Stephen Carlton Clark, the owner of a local hotel. Clark had sought to bring tourists to a city hurt by the Great Depression, which reduced the local tourist trade, and Prohibition, which devastated the local hops industry. A new building was constructed, and the Hall of Fame was dedicated on June 12, 1939. (Clark's granddaughter, Jane Forbes Clark, is the current chairman of the Board of Directors.)
The erroneous claim that Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall.
An expanded library and research facility opened in 1994.Dale Petroskey became the organization's president in 1999.
In 2002, the Hall launched Baseball As America, a traveling exhibit that toured ten American museums over six years. The Hall of Fame has since also sponsored educational programming on the Internet to bring the Hall of Fame to schoolchildren who might not visit. The Hall and Museum completed a series of renovations in spring 2005. The Hall of Fame also presents an annual exhibit at FanFest at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
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