1939 marked the official centennial of the National Pastime. To mark the occasion many ceremonies and events were held across America, but none was as special as the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Legend had it that the game was invented in this rural environment by Civil War hero Abner Doubleday. Cooperstown remains the spiritual home of baseball, and beginning in 1939, the physical place where the game’s greats were enshrined in their own Hall of Fame. Beginning in 1936, sportswriters were asked to vote for the players who they deemed the greatest of all-time. The first ballot elected Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner. The next couple of years added more of the game’s legends and on June 12, 1939 the actual physical Hall of Fame opened its doors in Cooperstown. Almost all the living inductees attended and to mark the occasion the United States Postal Service created a stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of the game. Presented here is an original 1939 Baseball Centennial First Day Cover signed by 16 Hall of Famers, five of whom were part of the first four induction classes. This list of baseball royalty, all now long deceased, includes Ty Cobb (died 1961), Cy Young (d. 1955), Tris Speaker (d. 1958), Eddie Collins (d. 1951), George Sisler (d. 1973), Jimmie Foxx (d. 1967), Rogers Hornsby (d. 1963), Mel Ott (d. 1956), Charles “Kid” Nichols (d. 1953), Mickey Cochrane (d. 1962), Carl Hubbell (d. 1998), Ed Walsh (d. 1959), Fred Clarke (d. 1960), Pie Traynor (d. 1972), Charlie Gehringer (d. 1993) and Hugh Duffy (d. 1954). All but one autograph was done in black ink. They range widely in strength, from Clarke’s 5/10 (blue) to Ott’s 9/10. Ty Cobb, whose mini photo is affixed to the event logo - 7/10. Cy Young’s 7/10. Roger Hornsby 8/10. Pie Traynor 7/10. Duffy and Foxx have signed on top of each other, while Collins and Walsh overlap a bit as well - ratings are opinions. The envelope itself is clean, crease-free and well-preserved with little toning. The back has eight of the signers’ names in pencil. PSA/DNA slabbed with an overall grade of NM 7. A 1939 FDC signed by all 11 “original” inductees—those still alive and able to attend their own enshrinement—is considered the holy grail of First Day Covers. Originally sourced from Ira Seebacher, a prominent New York sportswriter and member of the BBWAA since 1932, was among the initial group of Hall of Fame voters. While covering the 1940 induction ceremony (6/13/40) for The Morning Telegraph, he got each of these 16 autographs in person. According to Seebacher’s son, each inductee received his very own FDC with a small cut-out photograph of himself. A limited number of these were made, and this offered version was designed specifically for the Georgia Peach because he was part of the inaugural 1936 class. His full body vintage photo (2x3½ cm) was affixed on the bats and laurel pictograph inside the gold-embossed 1839-1939 Baseball Centennial logo ("Birthplace of Baseball" adds a nice ring to it). The full birth names of the first five baseball immortals voted in—Wagner, Mathewson, “Tyrus R. Cobb”, Johnson and Ruth—along with their years of service are gold-embossed on the bottom. We’ve never seen any player-specific 1939 FDC version like this before, let alone one custom-made for Cobb with so many significant autographs. PSA/DNA slabbed NM 7 - 84208365.