SHRINE OF THE ETERNALS:
2004 INDUCTION DAY
Sunday, July 18, 2004 ~ 2:00 PM
Donald R. Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Central
Library
285 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, California
Free Admission / Information (626) 791-7647
The Baseball Reliquary will sponsor
the 2004 Induction Day ceremony for its sixth
class of electees to the Shrine of the Eternals
on Sunday, July 18, 2004, beginning at 2:00 PM,
at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the
Pasadena Central Library, 285 East Walnut
Street, Pasadena, California. The doors will
open at 1:30 PM, and admission is open to the
public and free of charge. The inductees will be
Dick Allen, Roberto Clemente, and William
“Dummy” Hoy. The keynote address will be
delivered by Lester Rodney, founding sports
editor and columnist for the Daily Worker
from 1936 to 1958. In addition, the Baseball
Reliquary will honor the recipients of the 2004
Hilda Award, Jennie
Reiff, and the 2004 Tony
Salin Memorial Award, Bill Weiss.
The festivities will commence with
an Induction Day tradition, the ceremonial bell
ringing in honor of the late Brooklyn Dodgers
fan Hilda Chester; everyone who attends is
encouraged to bring a bell to ring for this
occasion. The National Anthem will be performed
on the erhu (a bowed instrument referred to as
the “Chinese violin”) by musician and teacher Ji
Shih.
For further information, contact the
Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or
by e-mail at
skpubs@earthlink.net. The 2004 Induction Day
is co-sponsored by the Pasadena Public Library
and supported in part by the Los Angeles County
Arts Commission.
2004 INDUCTEES
The highest honor afforded an
individual by the Baseball Reliquary is election
to the Shrine of the Eternals. Three individuals
are elected on an annual basis in voting
conducted in April by the international
membership of the Reliquary. Similar in concept
to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the
Shrine of the Eternals differs philosophically
in that statistical accomplishment is not a
criterion for election; the Shrine, rather,
honors individuals who have impacted the
baseball landscape in ways that do not
necessarily have anything to do with numbers.
The 2004 electees — Dick Allen, Roberto
Clemente, and William “Dummy Hoy — will join
previous inductees Jim Abbott, Moe Berg, Ila
Borders, Jim Bouton, Dock Ellis, Mark Fidrych,
Curt Flood, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill
“Spaceman” Lee, Marvin Miller, Minnie Minoso,
Satchel Paige, Jimmy Piersall, Pam Postema, and
Bill Veeck, Jr.
Despite enduring racism and
prejudice throughout much of his professional
baseball career, Dick Allen became one of the
most feared sluggers and dominant players of his
era. Free-spirited and controversial, Allen was
one of the first outspoken African-American
superstars in the major leagues, constantly at
war with the baseball establishment during his
15-year career as an infielder-outfielder
(1963-1977, mostly with the Philadelphia
Phillies and Chicago White Sox, but including
stints with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles
Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics). Allen garnered
both Rookie of the Year (1964, Philadelphia) and
Most Valuable Player (1972, Chicago) awards. In
that remarkable 1972 campaign with the White
Sox, Allen hit .308 and led the American League
in home runs (37), RBI (113), walks (99),
on-base percentage (.422), and slugging
percentage (.603). Dick Allen will attend the
ceremony to personally accept his induction. He
will be joined by his wife, Willa, and, pending
their availability, his two sons, Richard Jr.
and Eron. Allen will be introduced by his close
friend, Victor Reichman, who has assisted many
former ballplayers with personal appearances and
charity work and has been actively involved in
seeking pensions for older players.
One of the first Latin-American
superstars in major league baseball, Roberto
Clemente (1934-1972) was a humanitarian and a
folk hero in his native Puerto Rico, where his
memory is worshipped today. A daring and
exciting player, Clemente starred for the
Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972, hitting over
.300 thirteen times and leading the National
League in batting four times. While collecting
3,000 career hits, he was also the recipient of
twelve Gold Gloves as the finest right fielder
of his era. All of these accomplishments came in
spite of, and were perhaps fueled by, the racism
and prejudice which he endured throughout his
career. Clemente led a life of service to others
and died much the same way as he had lived —
killed in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972
while carrying relief supplies for Nicaraguan
earthquake victims. Typical of his selflessness
and altruism, Clemente not only organized the
mercy mission, but when he had heard that the
distribution of the charitable goods had run
afoul in Nicaragua, he insisted on traveling
with the supplies himself to ensure their safe
and proper distribution. Roberto Clemente’s
induction will be accepted by a representative
of the Clemente family.
William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy
(1862-1961), the first Deaf major league
ballplayer, starred for several big league clubs
for 14 seasons from 1888-1902, his longest
affiliation being five years with the Cincinnati
Reds (1894-1897, 1902). Diminutive even by 19th
century standards (Hoy was 5’4” and weighed 148
pounds), he was a superb defensive center
fielder and brilliant base-stealer. The first
outfielder in the majors to throw out three
runners at the plate in a single game, Hoy
compiled 2,044 career hits with a .287 batting
average and 594 stolen bases (including a
National League-leading 82 SBs in his rookie
year with Washington in 1888). Hoy, whose
deafness resulted from an attack of meningitis
when he was three, taught sign language to many
of his teammates and they would often sign to
him during games; thus, Hoy has often been
considered a progenitor of the signaling system
used today by managers, coaches, base-runners,
and hitters. Unable to hear the umpire when he
was at the plate, Hoy would be kept posted of
the call by his third base coach, who would lift
his right hand for strikes and his left hand for
balls; though never authenticated, this system
of communication may have had some influence on
the future use of hand signals by umpires in
calling balls and strikes. Although Hoy passed
away in 1961 at the age of 99, just two months
after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at
the Reds-Yankees’ World Series, he has continued
to be an outstanding role model and inspiration
for generations in the Deaf community. Hoy’s
induction as the first 19th century player
elected to the Shrine of the Eternals since
voting began in 1999 will be accepted by his
grandson, Dr. Carson Skaggs of Grass Valley,
California, and his wife Miriam. Hoy will be
introduced by Steve Sandy of Columbus, Ohio, who
has been actively researching the life of this
19th century legend since 1989. A graduate of
Gallaudet College (now University) in 1983,
Sandy is prominently involved with the USA Deaf
Sports Federation Committee for Dummy Hoy, which
was formed in 1991 and has been lobbying to get
him elected to the National Baseball Hall of
Fame.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND AWARDS
The keynote address for the 2004
Induction Day will be presented by Lester
Rodney, who grew up in Brooklyn as an avid
Dodgers fan and who was hired as the founding
sports editor and columnist of the Daily
Worker, the house organ of the American
Communist Party, in 1936. Rodney immediately
used his new position with the paper to launch
an attack on the continued hypocrisy of the
color-line in baseball. There are many that
believe Rodney and the Daily Worker were
responsible for initiating the campaign to
integrate baseball that culminated with Branch
Rickey’s signing of Jackie Robinson.
Unfortunately, due to the virulent
anti-Communist posturing of the period, Rodney’s
efforts in this area were woefully neglected
until recent years when he was “rediscovered”
and was the subject of a biography by Irwin
Silber, Press Box Red (2003, Temple
University Press). Now 93 years of age, Rodney,
currently a resident of Northern California,
returns to the Southland where he worked as the
religion editor of the Long Beach Press
Telegram for many years after he left the
Daily Worker and the Communist Party in
1958.
The ceremony will also feature the
presentation of the 2004 Hilda Award, named in
memory of the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers fan Hilda
Chester and given annually to a fan for his/her
extraordinary passion for and dedication to
baseball. This year’s recipient is 26-year-old
Jennie Reiff, originally from Cleveland, Ohio,
who relocated to Southern California ten years
ago. An Anaheim Angels fan and season ticket
holder, Reiff developed a fascination with late
19th century ballplayers while majoring in
American History at Pitzer College, and now uses
every opportunity to enlighten the general
public to the biographical details of these
long-forgotten athletes, including her personal
favorite, Big Ed Delahanty, a contemporary of
William “Dummy” Hoy.
Another highlight of the ceremony
will be the presentation of the 2004 Tony Salin
Memorial Award, named for the late baseball
author and researcher, which annually honors one
individual for his/her dedication to preserving
baseball history. This year’s recipient is
legendary statistician Bill Weiss of San Mateo,
California, who for four decades prepared for
various minor leagues, then for major league
organizations, sketchbooks which contained
biographical information and career records for
all players in the league or organization. They
eventually reached a total of 200 books,
providing a wealth of biographical and
statistical data which has been of inestimable
value to researchers and historians. Weiss has
also served as the official historian of the
Pacific Coast League, edited a weekly newsletter
for the California League for thirty-plus years,
and maintained a close affinity with baseball
scouts, whom Weiss has called “the unsung heroes
of the game.” |