Baseball Reliquary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Baseball Reliquary is a nonprofit, educational organization "dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the national pastime’s unparalleled creative possibilities." The Reliquary was founded in 1996 in Monrovia, California and is funded in part by a grant from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Throughout the year, the Reliquary organizes and presents artistic and historical exhibitions relating to baseball. Recent exhibitions (as of 2007) include a history of Mexican-American baseball in Los Angeles, a detailed replica of Ebbets Field, and a screening of the film The Emerald Diamond about the Irish national baseball team.
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[edit] Shrine of the Eternals
Since 1999, members of the Baseball Reliquary have elected twenty-four individuals to their "Shrine of the Eternals." The Shrine 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 composed of individuals – from the obscure to the well known – who have altered the baseball world in ways that supersede statistics.
The Baseball Reliquary lists the criteria for election to the Shrine of the Eternals as:
- the distinctiveness of play (good or bad)
- the uniqueness of character and personality
- the imprint that the individual has made upon the baseball landscape
[edit] Shrine of the Eternals inductees
Current as of the 2007 induction.
- Jim Abbott
- Dick Allen
- Moe Berg
- Yogi Berra
- Jim Brosnan
- Ila Borders
- Jim Bouton
- Roberto Clemente
- Rod Dedeaux
- Dock Ellis
- Mark Fidrych
- Curt Flood
- Josh Gibson
- Dummy Hoy
- Shoeless Joe Jackson
- Bill James
- Bill "Spaceman" Lee
- Marvin Miller
- Minnie Minoso
- Satchel Paige
- Jimmy Piersall
- Pam Postema (umpire)
- Jackie Robinson
- Lester Rodney (journalist)
- Fernando Valenzuela
- Bill Veeck
- Kenichi Zenimura
[edit] Featured in The New York Times
On March 1, 2007, founder Terry Cannon was featured by The New York Times. The article, by Justin Peters, was titled "A Hall of Fame for Great Stories."