The first class

Babe Ruth, left, with Ty Cobb

The Hall of Fame announces its inaugural class of inductees 88 years ago today and – just like so many ensuing elections – there is controversy.

Babe Ruth is selected along with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner.

The voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America, however, do not include Cy Young in the Hall’s first class.

Cy Young

Apparently, voters do not know whether to consider Young to be a star in the 19th or the 20th century.

Nonetheless, Young’s 511 career victories over 22 seasons from 1890-1911 are good enough to get him elected the following year in 1937.

Even then, though, the game's all-time wins leader receives only 76 percent of the vote, reaching the prerequisite 75 percent for induction by a mere two votes.

As for the first vote in 1936, Cobb receives the largest percentage at 98.2 percent with Ruth and Wagner following (each at 95.1) and Mathewson (90.7) and Johnson (83.6) after them.

The first – and so far – only unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame is New York Yankees’ relief pitcher extraordinaire Mariano Rivera, who headlines the Class of 2019.