On January 10, 2005, the Baseball Reliquary, Inc. announced its list of fifty eligible candidates for the 2005 election of the Shrine of the Eternals, the membership organization’s equivalent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year marks the seventh annual election of the Shrine of the Eternals, which has become a major international 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 eighteen individuals previously elected to the Shrine of the Eternals are, in alphabetical order: Jim Abbott, Dick Allen, Moe Berg, Ila Borders, Jim Bouton, Roberto Clemente, Dock Ellis, Mark Fidrych, Curt Flood, William “Dummy” Hoy, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Marvin Miller, Minnie Minoso, Satchel Paige, Jimmy Piersall, Pam Postema, and Bill Veeck, Jr.
            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 impacted the baseball world in ways that do not necessarily have anything to do with 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 sportswriters or committees, the members of the Baseball Reliquary determine the actual Shrine electees, and membership is open to the public. A screening committee appointed by the Reliquary’s Board of Directors prepares an annual ballot consisting of fifty candidates, on which the membership votes, with the three candidates receiving the highest number of votes gaining automatic election.
            Among the fifty eligible candidates for 2005, twelve individuals appear on the Shrine of the Eternals ballot for the first time. The newcomers, in alphabetical order, are:

             HANK AGUIRRE, native of Azusa, California who won the American League ERA crown with Detroit in 1962, but gained more recognition as a Chicano businessman after the end of his playing career;
            ELIOT ASINOF, author of the groundbreaking Eight Men Out (1963), which covered the 1919 Black Sox Scandal in hitherto exhaustive detail and is still considered the key text on the subject;
            ROGER CRAIG, one of the original Mets, who picked up the dreadful nom de guerre “The Great Loser” while dropping 18 consecutive decisions in 1963, and later revolutionized the art of pitching as a coach and manager with the introduction of the lethal split-fingered fastball;
            BING DEVINE, architect of the 1960s championship St. Louis Cardinals teams, featuring Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, Ken Boyer, Bill White, et al., one of the first harmoniously integrated franchises in National League history;
            JIM “MUDCAT” GRANT, 14-year major league veteran, the first African-American pitcher to win 20 games in the American League (1965) with the Minnesota Twins, former lead singer of “Mudcat and the Kittens,” author of The Twelve Black Aces, poet, and community activist;
            WILLARD MULLIN, an exceptional cartoonist whose work appeared in local papers such as the New York World-Telegram until the creation in 1938 of his most lovable character, the Brooklyn Dodger Bum, began to draw the attention of the national baseball press;
            SEVERO NIETO, Cuban baseball historian who co-authored the first encyclopedia of Cuban baseball in 1955, but whose subsequent monumental works on Cuban baseball remain unpublished, threatened from within by the Castro government and from outside by the continuing U.S. embargo;
            LIPMAN “LIP” PIKE, among the first great professional players of the 19th century, the first Jewish professional of note, and a consistent slugging star of the National Association (1871-1875), the National League’s precursor;
            TED “DOUBLE DUTY” RADCLIFFE, Negro League legend, still living at age 102, who earned his workhorse nickname from Damon Runyon for his talents as both a catcher and a pitcher;
            DOUG RADER, a good player with poor teams in the 1960s and ‘70s, “The Red Rooster” was baseball’s ultimate prankster — his dugout and clubhouse gross-outs were immortalized in Jim Bouton’s I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally;
            BILLY SUNDAY, famous fire-and-brimstone circuit preacher, “The Evangelist” heard plenty of blasphemers during his career as a speedy outfielder in the rough and rowdy 19th century;
            DON ZIMMER, among the last of a vanishing breed — the baseball lifer — Zim has put his stamp on the game as a player, coach, and manager for more than fifty years and has the wounds, both physical and psychical, to prove it. 

            A complete list of all fifty candidates for the 2005 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, 2005. To be eligible to vote, all persons must have their minimum $25.00 annual membership dues paid as of March 31, 2005.
            The three new inductees will be announced in May, with the Induction Day ceremony scheduled for Sunday, July 24, 2005 in Pasadena, California. In addition to the presentation of plaques to the 2005 inductees, this year’s ceremony will honor the recipients of the 2005 Hilda Award (named in memory of Hilda Chester and acknowledging the dedication of a deserving baseball fan) and the 2005 Tony Salin Memorial Award (presented annually to an individual who has been dedicated to preserving 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 skpubs@earthlink.net.