More than any other popular sport in America baseball has a long and storied history. It also has the oldest Hall of Fame.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened it's doors on June 12, 1939 in Cooperstown, New York.

There is a legend that that Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown which is why it was chosen as the location of the Hall of Fame. This legend was integral to the early marketing of the museum. It is now doubted by most baseball historians that this is actually true.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is actually a privately run institution and is not directly related with Major League Baseball. That being said Major League Baseball quickly saw the marketing potential of the Hall of Fame and has been very cooperative over the years with supplying memorabilia to the Hall.

Of course among most baseball fans the term Hall of Fame has more to do with the "Hall of Famers" that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame than with the actual physical building or museum in New York.

The first five Hall of Famers were inducted in 1936, three years before the museum opened. These five major league baseball legends were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson. As of 2007 there have been 227 players inducted into the Hall.

There are two ways to get into the Hall of Fame. A player can either be elected into the Hall by the Baseball Writers Association of America or by the Veterans Committee which is comprised of living Hall of Famers and recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball writing.

To be voted in a player must be included on the ballots of 75% of the voters.

Other early inducted players include Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Cy Young in 1937. Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1938. Cap Anson, Willie Keeler, Charles Radbourn, George Sisler, Eddie Collins, Buck Ewing, and Lou Gehrig in 1939.

Usually players must be retired from the Major Leagues for 5 years before becoming eligible. Lou Gehrig was made an exception in 1939 due to his illness. Another exception was made in 1973 for Roberto Clemente due to his death in an airplane accident.

Recent inductees include Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripkin Jr., Wade Boggs, Ryne Sandberg, Paul Molitor, and Dennis Eckersley.

There is now much controversy over players such as Mark McGwire (who was passed over this year in his first year of eligibility) who are associated with the "Steroids Era "in baseball. Personally I think this is ridiculous for numerous reasons. One of them being that there's no way to tell who hasn't taken steroids. Another one being to act as if the steroids era is somehow in the past is to be as blind as we all were back in 1998.

If not for the steroids controversy certainly McGwire would have been voted into the Hall easily as his numbers are outstanding. McGwire is the all time leader in career home run ratio.

Other notable players who have not been inducted into the Hall because of some reason other than their skills on the field include Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Both shoe-ins otherwise.

And yes I think both of them should be in the hall too. I don't look to baseball for my "morals" and I find moralizing to be home ground for toads of all sorts. McGwire, Rose, and Jackson should all be in the hall due to the way they performed on the field. The rest of it just doesn't matter to me.

While throwing games is I think about the only bannable offense I don't think it was truly proven that Jackson threw any games. He hit .375 in the 1919 World Series and did not make any field errors.

Along with the inductees the Hall of Fame is also a Baseball Museum. According to the Hall they have over 300,000 visitors to their museum a year.