Have You Heard Of The Other Baseball Hall Of Fame?

Aloha everybody,

Isn't this the best time of year? It's Opening week and all of our teams are in the mix. How's your team shaping up so far? As of this writing, the Dodgers are at .500 with 160 more games to go. Not a bad spot to be in. 

Have any of you seen the video below? My buddy Laker Dave lent this to me and suggested I watch it, as it's a "very cool video" and he knew I would enjoy it thoroughly. He was absolutely right.

The video is a documentary about the birth of the Baseball Reliquary and the Institute of Baseball Studies. The Reliquary is a sort of "People's Hall of Fame", but they call theirs the "Shrine of the Eternals". Best of all, this is no joke. 

Cooperstown honors the best strike out pitchers, the home run kings, and all of baseball's past stat-leaders. The Reliquary honors everyone else who made the game what it is today. In it's archives you'll find the heroes as well as the goats, the wild ones, the funny ones, the under-the-radars, and the sublime.

Unlike the honorees at Cooperstown, regular folk like you and I vote for the Eternals. I'll let them tell you what the Shrine is:

"The highest honor afforded by the Baseball Reliquary is election to the Shrine of the Eternals. Similar to Cooperstown’s National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Shrine of the Eternals differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not the principal criterion for election. It is believed that the election of individuals on merits other than statistics and playing ability will offer the opportunity for a deeper understanding and appreciation of baseball than has heretofore been provided by “Halls of Fame” in the more traditional and conservative institutions."

Dock Ellis was the first inductee. The video includes his touching induction speech, as well as the highly amusing induction of Mr. Pete Rose. If you love the sport of baseball, get your hands on a copy of this DVD pronto (try your local library), and watch it with ATBATT's full endorsement. Watch it with your kids and let them in on the other sides of baseball that many have forgotten or never even knew about. 

 It's my good luck that the Reliquary and the Institute for Baseball Studies are based here on the West Coast, at local Whittier College.

 Last week I stopped by the Institute for a visit, and I was absolutely blown away! Stop by for the next post as we go inside and drop our jaws in baseball awe. 

Aloha!