Which American baseball player was not a member of the first Baseball Hall of Fame class?

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. The word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand (or a metonym) for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. 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 inaugural Hall of Fame election results were announced in the media on Feb. 2, 1936, and featured Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner as the Class of 1936. After 20 more members were added to the Hall of Fame in the elections in 1937, 1938 and 1939, the first Induction Ceremony was held on at the Hall's opening on June 12, 1939 – with all 11 living electees present in Cooperstown. Lou Gehrig is recognized as a member of the Class of 1939, but Gehrig was not elected until late in the year after it became clear that his playing career was over due to complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

As of January 2017, 317 people have been elected to the Hall of Fame, including 220 former Major League Baseball players, 35 Negro league baseball players and executives, 22 managers, 10 umpires, and 30 pioneers, executives, and organizers.