The Baseball Reliquary is pleased to announce the 2026 candidates elected to the Shrine of the Eternals, the organization’s fan-friendly alternative to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The three honorees are Roy Campanella, Charles O. Finley, and Janet Marie Smith. The ceremony for their induction into the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals will be held on Sunday, November 8 at 2:00 p.m. in the Villalobos Conference Center on the Whittier College Campus, Whittier, California.
“It’s good to be alive!” That was the mantra of Roy Campanella and the title of his autobiography following a tragic auto accident that curtailed his playing career and confined him to a wheelchair for more than three decades. His accomplishments on the field were exceptional. At 15, he played his first professional games in the Negro Leagues, and after a decade of success he signed with Brooklyn. In his first year in the Dodgers system, he became the first African American to manage a minor league team after Walt Alston was ejected. Two years later, he integrated the American Association (AAA) before being called up by the Dodgers. There he starred, winning the National League MVP Award three times, leading the team to its only World Series Championship in 1955, being named to the NL All Star team in nine consecutive seasons, and setting the MLB career record for throwing out runners attempting to steal (57%).
His leadership off the field was equally remarkable. Despite his post-accident paralysis, Campanella became a model of outward optimism as he embarked on an executive baseball path by serving in various roles for the Dodgers—as assistant supervisor of scouting in the Eastern states, as assistant to the director of community relations, and as a special Spring Training coach at the team’s facilities in Vero Beach.
Although Charles O. Finley made his fortune in the insurance industry, he made his name in baseball. After he failed in attempts to purchase three MLB teams, he finally secured the purchase of the Kansas City Athletics in 1961. Ironically, it was the franchise that he had first attempted to buy. Immediately after assuming ownership of the team, he began the process of transforming it from cellar status into a winner by refusing to make unbalanced trades with the Yankees and by finding and signing great talent, including Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, Burt Campaneris, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers. Their team won three straight World Series titles.
When Finley tried to save the A’s future by selling off pending free agents, he was thwarted by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. After many of his star players then left via free agency, he again recognized incredible talent, signing Rickey Henderson and Tony Armas. As astute as Finley was for identifying and motiving baseball players, he proposed interesting adaptations for the game and ballpark, like using orange baseballs, introducing colorful uniforms, and delivering baseballs to the umpire via a pop-up, cartoon mechanical rabbit. Although these imaginative proposals were not embraced during his ownership, Finley’s effect on the A’s and MLB was immense.
A pioneer among women in the front offices of major league teams, Janet Marie Smith initially served as the Baltimore Oriole’s Vice President for Planning and Development in 1989, and she currently serves as an Executive Vice President for the Dodgers. In Baltimore, her work on Oriole Park at Camden Yards created a paradigm shift of ballpark design from the concrete, cookie-cutter, fan unfriendly, “multipurpose” facilities that had dominated stadium plans for almost three decades. As an architect and urban planner, she has coordinated the construction of other stadiums (like PNC Park in Pittsburgh). She has supervised the renovation of other MLB ballparks like Fenway Park, where seats were installed above the Green Monster, and Dodger Stadium, where the new Centerfield Plaza provides the ballpark’s elegant “front door.” She has also conceived improvements for international sports facilities including Campo Las Palmas, the Dodgers’ expansive facility in the Dominican Republic, as well as the homes of Chelsea Football Club and Paris Basketball.
Her architectural style is characterized by its nostalgic charm and its seamless integration of sophisticated technology—all with an eye toward enhancing the audience experience. Consistently, her designs incorporate magnetic features of fan-favorite, historic ballparks while also showcasing modern amenities—wide concourses, spacious restrooms, convenient concessions, and seats with good viewing angles.
At its induction ceremony for electees in the Shrine of the Eternals, the Baseball Reliquary also presents two other awards, the Hilda Chester Award, in recognition of distinguished service to the game by a baseball fan, and the Tony Salin Memorial Award, in recognition of an individual’s commitment to the preservation of baseball history.
This year, the Tony Salin Memorial Award recognizes Phil Dixon for his historical and archival work on the Negro Leagues. Among his various publications, he is best known for his 1992 award-winning book The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History, 1867-1955. In addition to writing about baseball, Dixon has toured more than 200 cities throughout the United States and Canada as a popular speaker known for his vivid storytelling and illustrated presentations on the Kansas City Monarchs, the barnstorming tour of Dizzy and Daffy Dean, and overlooked players in the Negro Leagues. A co-founder of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Dixon now serves on the museum’s advisory board.
The recipient of the 2026 Hilda Chester Award is Jade Van Kley, a Registered Nurse in Nashville who serves the music and film industries as a health and safety consultant. Beyond her professional work, she displays her fascination with baseball’s whimsical stories, quirky plays, and weird artifacts on Instagram reels (@BacklineNurse) and YouTube videos. Her fast-past style is a celebrative, visual cacophony that resonates with Hilda’s historic, clanging cowbells. And Jade’s love of baseball’s “wackydom” perfectly exemplifies the winsome spirit of the Reliquary. See, for example, her clip on YouTube, “What if baseball were an extreme sport?”
