THE BASEBALL RELIQUARY ANNOUNCES
DAVE ZIRIN AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
FOR SHRINE OF THE ETERNALS 2013 INDUCTION DAY

            PASADENA, Calif. – The Board of Directors of the Baseball Reliquary, Inc., a Southern California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history, is pleased to announce that Dave Zirin, one of the most original voices to emerge from the field of sportswriting in recent years, will be the keynote speaker for the Shrine of the Eternals 2013 Induction Day, to be held on Sunday, July 21, 2013 at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library, Pasadena, California.  The festivities will include the inductions of the fifteenth class of electees to the Shrine of the Eternals, and the presentation of the Hilda and Tony Salin Memorial Awards.
            Named one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” DAVE ZIRIN writes about the politics of sports for The Nation, and is the first sportswriter in the magazine’s nearly 150 years of existence.  Winner of Sport in Society and Northeastern University School of Journalism’s 2011 “Excellence in Sports Journalism” Award, Zirin hosts Sirius XM Radio’s popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio.  Also a columnist for The Progressive and SLAM Magazine, Zirin has been hailed as “the conscience of American sportswriting” by The Washington Post and “the best sportswriter in the United States” by Robert Lipsyte.   Peter Rachleff, Professor of History at Minnesota’s Macalester College, has written, “Sports is far more than bread and circuses, far more than a mere distraction.  Dave Zirin shows us not only that sports can be a window through which we can examine the complex workings of race and class in this twisted, commercialized culture, but that it can also be a site of resistance.  Zirin finds that resistance in each and every sport, at both amateur and professional levels, and he even traces a history of struggle that informs today’s battles.  If I was a religious believer, I’d say that Dave Zirin is the second coming of Lester Rodney . . .”
            Zirin’s books demonstrate his strong commitment to social justice and include What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books, 2005); Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports (Haymarket Books, 2007); A People’s History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play (The New Press, 2009); Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love (Scribner, 2010); and Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down (The New Press, 2013).  He also co-authored The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World (Haymarket Books, 2011), which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
            Zirin has brought his blend of sports and politics to many television programs including NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly, ESPN’s Outside the Lines, MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show, C-SPAN’s Book TV, and Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.  He has also been on numerous national radio programs including National Public Radio’s Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, and All Things Considered.
            For more information, contact Terry Cannon, Executive Director of the Baseball Reliquary, by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.