There's a ceremony of some sort for nearly every stamp. Some bigger than others. The one for the baseball centennial would have been a big one since it was part of the opening of the HOF.
Unaddessed FDCs weren't common until the early 30's. The ones unadressed were usually made by dealers. The addressed ones were usually done by people attending the opening ceremony, and by people sending in mail orders.
There were 398,199 FDCs for the baseball centennial. Most of the addressed ones would have been made by individuals bringing a SASE buying a stamp and handing it in to be mailed. The ones to be mailed would have gone through the regular machine canceller for that town, and delivered as mail. That's probably how the Ruth one was made.
Handstamped ones like the Johnson were either handed back to the person receiving it, or went on unusual mailpieces or other items. The stamp could have been put on just about anything. Postcards, foreign addresses and stuff like registered mail are common back then. More recently ones on large postcards or photos are popular.
Cacheted covers would have been available from a variety of dealers, and some were probably there selling cacheted envelopes for people to have cancelled.
The small picture was probably added by a later owner.
Aside from that, the cover is what I'd expect from a popular guy who was busy but either wanted or had to attend the first day ceremony. A simple envelope addressed to himself, and simply stamped and handed in to whatever clerk was available just then. A nice simple souvenir for very little effort. He wouldn't even have to keep track of it , it would probably be waiting in his mail box when he got home.
I won't comment about the autograph, but the cover is the sort of cover I'd be more comfortable with.
Steve B
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