Eternally greatful
The Baseball Reliquary has come out with its latest 50 eligible candidates for the 2007 election to the Shrine of the Eternals, the membership organization’s equivalent to the Baseball Hall of Fame, except that it's the fans who vote, not the baseball writers. This is the ninth annual ballot for the Shine, which is intended to honor those from the obscure to the well known who have altered the baseball world in ways that supersede statistics.
Nope, Mark McGwire isn't on this ballot.
There've been 24 already enshrined, from Jim Abbott to Kenichi Zenimura, with a Mark Fidrych, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fernando Valenzuela and Bill Veeck thrown in between.
There are 10 first-timers on the new ballot: Umpire Emmett Ashford, former White Sox inept star Zeke Bonura, former relief pitcher turned author Jim Brosnan, former catcher Darren Daulton, ex-Detroit Tigers star Willie Horton, Deadball Era star Sherry Magee, Negro League third baseman Oliver "Ghost" Marcelle, former single-season home-run champ Roger Maris, fan "Nuf Ced" McGreevy, famed scapegoat Fred Merkle, former relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry and former star picher Luis Tiant. Both Maris and Tiant had been on previous ballots, but they return this year.
For a complete list of the ballot, or for membership information to the Baseball Reliquary, go to the weblink above or contact Terry Cannon at P.O. Box 1850, Monrovia, CA 91017 or by email at terymar@earthlink.net