Baseball Reliquary Announces Candidates for 2015 Election of the Shrine of the Eternals

The Baseball Reliquary, Inc. has announced its list of fifty eligible candidates for the 2015 election of the Shrine of the Eternals, the membership organization’s equivalent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year marks the seventeenth annual election of the Shrine, a major national component of the Baseball Reliquary, a Southern California-based organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history. The forty-eight individuals previously elected to the Shrine of the Eternals are, in alphabetical order: Jim Abbott, Dick Allen, Roger Angell, Emmett Ashford, Moe Berg, Yogi Berra, Ila Borders, Jim Bouton, Jim Brosnan, Bill Buckner, Roberto Clemente, Steve Dalkowski, Dizzy Dean, Rod Dedeaux, Jim Eisenreich, Dock Ellis, Eddie Feigner, Mark Fidrych, Curt Flood, Ted Giannoulas, Josh Gibson, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Pete Gray, William “Dummy” Hoy, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill James, Dr. Frank Jobe, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Roger Maris, Marvin Miller, Minnie Minoso, Manny Mota, Lefty O’Doul, Buck O’Neil, Satchel Paige, Jimmy Piersall, Pam Postema, Jackie Robinson, Rachel Robinson, Lester Rodney, Pete Rose, Casey Stengel, Luis Tiant, Fernando Valenzuela, Bill Veeck, Jr., Maury Wills, Kenichi Zenimura, and Don Zimmer.

The Shrine of the Eternals is similar in concept to the annual elections held at the Baseball Hall of Fame, but differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not a criterion for election. Rather, the Shrine’s annual ballot is comprised of individuals – from the obscure to the well-known – who have altered the baseball world in ways that supersede statistics.

On a procedural level, the Shrine of the Eternals differs significantly from the Baseball Hall of Fame in the manner by which electees are chosen. While the Baseball Hall of Fame’s electees are chosen in voting conducted by a select group of sportswriters or committees, the Baseball Reliquary chooses its enshrinees by a vote open to the public. A screening committee appointed by the Reliquary’s Board of Directors prepares a ballot consisting of fifty candidates, on which the membership votes annually. The three candidates receiving the highest percentage of votes gain automatic election.

Among the fifty eligible candidates for 2015, twelve individuals appear on the Shrine of the Eternals ballot for the first time. The newcomers, in alphabetical order, are:

Billy Earle (1867-1946) – Recognized as one of the better catchers of the 1890s, Earle was dubbed “The Little Globetrotter” as much for his habit of jumping contracts as for freaking out his teammates with weird behavior, making him persona non grata in the clubhouse. A student of hypnosis, whom the Reach Guide claimed also to be a spiritualist and spiritual healer, Earle had piercing, mesmeric eyes which were said to make all who looked into them feel creepy and helpless. This superstitious belief in the “evil eye” put an early end to Earle’s baseball career.

Luke Easter (1915-1979) – A slugger of legendary size, strength, and ability, Easter didn’t make his debut in MLB until the age of 34, having played and excelled in semipro and Negro League ball since his early twenties. Known for his titanic home runs – called “Easter Eggs” – he was signed to a contract as a first baseman with the Cleveland Indians by maverick owner Bill Veeck in 1949. Although named AL Player of the Year for 1952 by The Sporting News, Easter’s age and injuries swiftly curtailed what could have been a Hall of Fame career if not for racial prejudice and historical circumstance. He was shot and killed outside a Cleveland-area bank in 1979.

Nancy Faust (b. 1947) – Stadium organist for the Chicago White Sox from 1970 through 2010, Faust received a measure of popularity usually reserved for more visible cultural lights when she augmented the standard organ repertoire with renditions of pop and rock tunes, including a version of the 1969 recording “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” which shortly became one of the most popular crowd mantras in the history of sport.

Daniel Okrent (b. 1948) – A writer and editor of great perspicacity and a baseball maven of the highest order, Okrent is known to most fans as a talking head in baseball documentaries, but his greatest contribution to baseball culture is his invention in 1979 of Rotisserie League Baseball (named after La Rôtisserie Française, a New York restaurant where he would gather with colleagues). Now known simply as fantasy league baseball (and football, basketball, etc.), an annual multi-million dollar industry for which he receives no compensation, Okrent created the greatest game for baseball nerds since the creation of the game itself.

Ray Oyler (1938-1981) – Classic “good field, no hit” shortstop of the 1968 champion Detroit Tigers who was so inept at the plate (.175 career batting average) that he was replaced during the World Series by a player with no previous experience at the position, Oyler nonetheless gained a huge cult following in the Pacific Northwest after being drafted by the fledgling Seattle Pilots in 1969. After noticing Oyler’s feeble average, Seattle radio personality Bob Hardwick created the endearing Ray Oyler Fan Club as a way to provide moral support for the struggling player. Oyler never did hit, but was so touched by his fan club that he moved permanently to Seattle after retirement from baseball.

Jorge Pasquel (1907-1955) – An ostentatiously wealthy shipping magnate, Pasquel, with his four brothers, invested an estimated $50 million of their own money into the Mexican League during the 1940s, luring Negro League and MLB players with large contracts in an attempt to compete directly with professional baseball in the U.S. Fearing that the rosters of American teams would be decimated by contract-jumping, Commissioner Happy Chandler decreed that all players who signed with Pasquel would thereafter be banned from playing at home for a period of five years. The flurry of suits and counter-suits in the wake of Pasquel’s signings scarred professional baseball in both countries into the 1950s.

Jim Paul (b. 1943) – Locally revered as the man who saved baseball in El Paso, Texas and since recognized as an innovative genius responsible for re-energizing minor league franchises nationwide, Paul assumed ownership of the ailing El Paso entry in the Class AA Texas League in 1974. Rechristened the Diablos, Paul rescued his team from the brink of obsolescence by implementing a variety of novel debt-reduction plans and creative marketing techniques that would soon be emulated by other struggling franchises. When he sold the team in 1996 – “my biggest mistake” – the El Paso Diablos had reinvigorated minor league baseball to such a degree that it’s impossible to think of the success of Bull Durham (1988) without invoking Paul’s name.

Charley Pride (b. 1938) – A giant of American country music, and one of the few African-Americans to succeed in that industry, Pride dreamed first of becoming a professional ballplayer. He pitched for a number of Negro League teams and in the low minors during the 1950s, reaching a career low in 1953 when he and a teammate were traded to the Birmingham Black Barons for a team bus, perhaps “the only players in history to be traded for a used motor vehicle.”

Peter Seitz (1905-1983) – Attorney hired by baseball owners to arbitrate labor disputes, Seitz ruled that the reserve clause – part of every standard player contract since the 1880s – did not entitle owners to “reserve” players in perpetuity, as had long been supposed and practiced. The Seitz decision of December 23, 1975 in regard to grievances submitted by pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally declared that players could indeed terminate their contracts and thereafter seek employment as free agents. In one fell swoop the reserve clause was abolished, the Free Agent Era begun, and Peter Seitz had to find a new job: he was instantly fired by his employers.

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) – the father of modern Japanese haiku and a pioneer of baseball in Japan, Shiki is cited as the creator of the world’s first baseball haiku in 1890 (spring breeze/this grassy field makes me/want to play catch). He was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his achievements in both baseball literature and baseball advocacy.

Chris von der Ahe (1851-1913) – Colorful, mercurial owner of the St. Louis Browns in the American Association, von der Ahe was cut from the same cloth as Charlie Finley and George Steinbrenner. A German immigrant who knew almost nothing about baseball, von der Ahe was a born entrepreneur with a sharp eye: these baseball-mad Americans sure loved their beer! The relationship between baseball, beer, and St. Louis was cemented when in 1885 the Browns won the first of four straight Association championships. Wealth and success made von der Ahe more impetuous, egomaniacal, and reckless. Legal problems, ill-advised investments, and marital woes piled up, forcing “der Boss President” to divest himself of the Browns in 1898. He succumbed to dire straits and a long illness from cirrhosis of the liver.

Gale Wade (b. 1929) – A brief Chicago Cub but a career stalwart of the Pacific Coast League and American Association, Wade – who was once included in a deal for Ralph Kiner – enjoyed his best season with the legendary 1956 Los Angeles Angels. He is better remembered, however, for his candid, homespun reporting on in-season ballgames for the Los Angeles Mirror-News and the Dallas Times-Herald. Invited to write about baseball after he complained that Los Angeles sportswriters didn’t pay enough attention to the Pacific Coast League, Wade sounded off on everything from his teammates to the judgment of circuit umpires. Gale Wade: “bats left, throws right, types one finger.”

A complete list of all fifty candidates for the 2015 election of the Shrine of the Eternals follows. Election packets, containing ballots and biographical profiles of all candidates, will be mailed to Baseball Reliquary members on April 1, 2015. To be eligible to vote, all persons must have their minimum $25.00 annual membership dues paid as of March 31, 2015.

The three new inductees will be announced in May, with the Induction Day ceremony scheduled for Sunday, July 19, 2015. In addition to the presentation of plaques to the 2015 inductees, this year’s ceremony will honor the recipients of the 2015 Hilda Award (named in memory of Hilda Chester and acknowledging a baseball fan’s exceptional devotion to the game) and the 2015 Tony Salin Memorial Award (presented annually to an individual dedicated to the preservation of baseball history).

For additional information on the Shrine of the Eternals, contact Terry Cannon, Executive Director of the Baseball Reliquary, at P.O. Box 1850, Monrovia, CA 91017; by phone at (626) 791-7647; or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.

THE SHRINE OF THE ETERNALS

CANDIDATES FOR THE 2015 ELECTION

The number to the right of candidates’ names indicates the number of years on the Shrine of the Eternals ballot.

THE SHRINE OF THE ETERNALS

CANDIDATES FOR THE 2015 ELECTION

The number to the right of candidates’ names indicates the number of years on the Shrine of the Eternals ballot.

1. Eliot Asinof (12)
2. Sy Berger (5)
3. Steve Bilko (4)
4. Chet Brewer (16)
5. Charlie Brown (8)
6. Glenn Burke (8)
7. Bert Campaneris (4)
8. Jose Canseco (4)
9. Octavius V. Catto (3)
10. Rocky Colavito (3)
11. Charles M. Conlon (14)
12. Bob Costas (2)
13. Margaret Donahue (2)
14. Billy Earle (New!)
15. Luke Easter (New!)
16. Nancy Faust (New!)
17. Lisa Fernandez (15)
18. Charlie Finley (5)
19. Rube Foster (17)
20. Ernie Harwell (12)
21. Bo Jackson (3)
22. Mamie Johnson (2)
23. Effa Manley (17)
24. Dr. Mike Marshall (10)
25. Tug McGraw (12)
26. Denny McLain (2)
27. Fred Merkle (9)
28. David N. Mullany (3)
29. Hideo Nomo (4)
30. Daniel Okrent (New!)
31. Ray Oyler (New!)
32. Dave Parker (2)
33. Jorge Pasquel (New!)
34. Jim Paul (New!)
35. Joe Pepitone (5)
36. Phil Pote (13)
37. Vic Power (7)
38. Charley Pride (New!)
39. Dan Quisenberry (9)
40. Pete Reiser (3)
41. J.R. Richard (16)
42. Annie Savoy (5)
43. Peter Seitz (New!)
44. Masaoka Shiki (New!)
45. Rusty Staub (10)
46. Chris von der Ahe (New!)
47. Rube Waddell (17)
48. Gale Wade (New!)
49. John Montgomery Ward (9)
50. John Young