Description

The 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Half Dollar was issued as part of the popular commemorative coin program recognizing and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Unlike the other two coins of the program, this clad half dollar was not specifically required to carry a domed shape, however, the United States Mint exceeded the requirements of the authorizing legislation and was able to strike the coin with a unique domed shape. The clad half dollar would actually represent the first and still the only time that a national mint has produced a domed or curved shape coin struck in non-precious metal.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-related artefacts and exhibits, honoring those who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations".

The Hall of Fame was established in 1939 by Stephen Carlton Clark, an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune. Clark sought to bring tourists to a city hurt by the Great Depression, which reduced the local tourist trade, and Prohibition, which devastated the local hops industry. Clark constructed the Hall of Fame's building, and it was dedicated on June 12, 1939. The erroneous claim that Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall.