Malcolm: Growing into its job, the 2015 Baseball Reliquary induction ceremony
From SABR member Don Malcolm at The Hardball Times on July 17, 2015, with mention of SABR member Gary Cieradkowski:
Who: The Baseball Reliquary
What: 17th Annual Shrine of the Eternals Induction Day
When: Sunday, July 19, 2015, 2:00-5:00 pm
Where: Donald Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, Calif.
How: The Ongoing Wit & Wisdom of the Reliquary’s Voter MembershipWhy? Yes, you are entitled to ask. We already have a baseball Hall of Fame. But let’s face it: it’s produced more heat than light, particularly in recent years. Could there be a different model for baseball immortality?
The answer is yes, and the Baseball Reliquary continues to make inroads into establishing a “Hall of Fame for the rest of us.” One that’s for adults still capable of playing with others, even while demonstrating their rugged individualism.
2014 established a permanent base for the Reliquary’s parallel operation, the Institute for Baseball Studies. Legendary baseball historian Paul Dickson provided a treasure trove that put the IBS instantly on the map with the donation of his papers. It won’t be long before Whittier, Calif., is the West Coast analogue of Cooperstown.
The Reliquary’s signature event is here again, occurring as it always does on the weekend before Cooperstown’s big blowout. While a few folk thought that the 2014 Shrine of the Eternals crop was something of a holding pattern for the project (Dizzy Dean, Lefty O’Doul, Don Zimmer), it’s undeniable that the Reliquary voters gloriously recaptured their connection to baseball’s subterranean stream with their 2015 inductees. The core principles that define “Eternal”—adversity, extremity, otherness—are back in play with a vengeance.
Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/tht-live/growing-into-its-job-the-2015-baseball-reliquary-induction-ceremony/
Originally published: July 17, 2015. Last Updated: July 17, 2015.