"Hall of Fame for the Immortals of Baseball"
Baseball Magazine, 1911

The Hall of Fame for the Immortals of Baseball
Comprising the Greatest Players in the History of the Game Established as a lasting tribute to our most illustrious players, based upon the judgments of the leading authorities of the nation's grandest sport, and maintained for the benefit of the many million ardent supporters of the greatest outdoor game in the history of the world. [January 1911]

In its January 1911 number, three-year-old Baseball Magazine opined, "We believe that our magazine is peculiarly fitted to act in the general province of an umpire in such controversies." It asked readers to send "any scrap of information . . . especially about the older players" and "honest judgment" concerning who was deserving. "[W]e will try to mould from the general consensus of opinion . . . a list which shall stand the test of time as the roll of honor for the leading baseball players of history." In its next six monthly numbers, the magazine named eighteen players to the Hall of Fame.

    January     "The Hall of Fame for the Immortals of Baseball"
    
    February    Adrian Anson      Ed Delahanty      Mike Kelly
    March       John Ward         Al Spalding       Buck Ewing
    April       George Wright     Charles Ferguson  Ed Williamson
    May         Dan Brouthers     Charlie Comiskey  Charlie Bennett
    June        Fred Pfeffer      Jerry Denny       James Fogarty
    July        Nap Lajoie        Honus Wagner      Ty Cobb
    

Acknowledgments. R.J. Lesch reported the eighteen players selected. Dean Sullivan sent me his abridged version of the January 1911 introductory article (published in Dean Sullivan, Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948, Lincoln NE: U of Nebraska, p51-53.).