This Whittier baseball shrine just welcomed its latest inductees

WHITTIER — Dodgers’ 1970s star outfielder Dusty Baker, groundbreaking executive Kim Ng and the late Negro Leagues team owner Effa Manley were inducted into the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals on Sunday, Aug. 4, at Whittier College.

The Shrine of the Eternals differs from the Hall of Fame by focusing on a person’s game-changing contributions that supersede statistical measures with voting open to the public, not restricted to sportswriters and committees, according to director Joe Price.

Its criteria are distinctiveness of play (good or bad), the uniqueness of character and personality and the imprint the individual has made on the baseball landscape.

Electees, both on and off the field, shall have been responsible for developing baseball through athletic and or business achievements, in terms or its larger cultural and sociological impact as mass entertainment and as an arena for the human imagination.

Previous inductees include Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra and Roberto Clemente, two stars banned from baseball and ineligible for the Hall of Fame — Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson — and such offbeat selections as eccentric 1970s pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Ted Giannoulas, baseball’s first high-profile costumed mascot, the Famous Chicken, and the “Peanuts” character Charlie Brown.

Baker topped voting for the shrine’s 2024 class, receiving votes on 39.6% of the 167 ballots returned by members of the Whittier College-based Baseball Reliquary, which bills itself as a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture though the context of baseball history and exploring the sport’s unparalleled creative possibilities.

The three candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the shrine.

Ng was second, receiving votes on 34.1% of the ballots. Manley and retired reliever Sean Doolittle tied for third with votes on 32.9% of the ballots.

Because Doolittle, called by Sports Illustrated the “conscience of baseball” for his support of the rights of workers, women, immigrants and statehood for the District of Columbia, was unable to attend because of his job as the pitching strategist for the Washington Nationals, he will be inducted next year, Price told City News Service.

Runners-up included Ron LeFlore, who played nine seasons in the majors despite never playing organized baseball before serving a prison sentence for armed robbery, who was fifth, receiving votes on 31.1% of the ballots, followed by Hall of Fame Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, who received votes on 30.4% of the ballots.

Kirk Gibson, who forever earned a spot in Dodger history for his game-winning pinch-hit home run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics, was seventh, with votes on 29.8% of the ballots.

Baker was a two-time all-star, a Gold Glove winner and 1977 National League Championship Series MVP during a 19-year major league playing career, including with the Dodgers from 1976 to 1983.

Baker began his 26-year major league managerial career with the San Francisco Giants in 1993, winning the first of his three National League manager of the year awards for guiding them to 103 victories, 31 more than the previous season.

In 2022, he became the 12th manager, and first Black manager, to win 2,000 games. His 2,183 victories are seventh on the all-time list. All six above him are in the Hall of Fame.

Baker was unable to attend the ceremony and was represented by Dodger teammate Reggie Smith.

Induction into the Shrine of the Eternals will be the first of two honors for Baker in six days. He will be inducted into the Legends of Dodger Baseball on Friday.

Ng was hired as the Miami Marlins’ general manager on Nov. 13, 2020, the first woman to become a general manager of a men’s team in major North American sports, as well as the first female Asian-American and first East Asian-American general manager in Major League Baseball history.

Ng had been the assistant general manager of the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2001 and Dodgers from 2002 to 2011.

Ng was presented by Shane Barclay, who worked with Ng when she was MLB’s senior vice president of baseball operations. Because she was unable to attend, Ng was represented by Ila Borders, the first female pitcher to start and win a men’s professional baseball game.

Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League with her husband Abe Manley from 1935 to 1948. She handled contracts and travel schedules for the Eagles and quickly gained recognition for her ability to promote the team.

Manley is the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame. She died in Los Angeles in 1981 at the age of 84.

Manley was presented by Joni Campanella, a daughter of Roy Campanella, and represented by Kathy Robinson Young, a niece of Jackie Robinson.

Also honored at the 2 p.m. ceremony at Villalobos Conference Center were Steve Butts and the late Jean Ardell.

Butts received the Hilda Award, which honors a fan’s significant contributions to baseball. Butts is the primary administrator of the Facebook pages for the Baseball Reliquary and the Institute for Baseball Studies, a humanities-based research collection at Whittier College.

The award is named in honor of the late Brooklyn Dodgers fan Hilda Chester who would ring a cowbell from the bleachers of Ebbets Field.

Ardell posthumously received the Tony Salin Memorial Award for her histories and biographies of women in baseball. It was accepted by her widower Dan Ardell, who played seven games for the Los Angeles Angels in 1961, their first season in the American League.

The award recognizes individuals for their commitment to the preservation of baseball history. It is named in memory of a baseball author and historian.