Charlie Vascellaro Will Officiate at Baseball Shrine of the Eternals Induction Day

The Baseball Reliquary, a Pasadena- based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history, announced that Charlie Vascellaro will deliver the Keynote Address at the Shrine of the Eternals Induction Day on Sunday, July 19, 2015, at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library.

The festivities will include the induction of the 2015 class of electees to the Shrine of the Eternals (Sy Berger, Steve Bilko, and Glenn Burke), and the presentation of the 2015 Hilda Award (Tom Keefe) and 2015 Tony Salin Memorial Award (Gary Joseph Cieradkowski).

Author, traveler, historian, raconteur, bilbliophile, bartender, and baseball fan, Vascellaro first discovered Major League Baseball in Arizona, and his junior high school attendance suffered mightily. Thirty years later, he still takes a month-long hiatus from his life in Baltimore, Maryland to make an annual pilgrimage to Arizona for Cactus League spring training.

A former twenty-year resident of Arizona, and journalism graduate from Arizona State University, Charlie is a regular contributorto many of the Cactus League teams’ spring training programs as well as other Arizona tourism and travel periodicals. His previews and travel stories have appeared annually in U.S. Airways and Arizona Key magazines, Cowboys and Indians magazine, and theSan Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs spring training programs. From his perspective as a lifelong fan and chronicler, Charlie has also been making his own personal narrative slide show presentation on the history of the Cactus League to the Road Scholar/Elderhostel traveling tour groups that come to Arizona in the spring.

Back in Baltimore, Charlie has written feature stories and essays on the hometown Orioles and all things Baltimore baseball for the City Paper, Baltimore Style, and the PressBox monthly sports publication. He has also authored biographies of Hank Aaron and Manny Ramirez. In 2001 and 2002, Charlie had a dream job taking the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum’s traveling exhibit to ballparks around the country.

He wrote feature stories about his experiences on the road for a variety of baseball team magazines, and curated a photography retrospective entitled Barnstorming with the Bambino in the 21st Century.

Charlie’s writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, and on MLB.com. Currently he is working on a revised edition of Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture for ABC-Clio/Greenwood Publishing, and manages his Web site, The Baseball Emporium.

On non-game days, he can be found on either side of the bar, pouring drinks or spilling stories.