Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John is among the 10 first-time candidates for election to the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals.
Voting for the Shrine of the Eternals is similar in concept to the annual elections held for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not a criterion for election, according to Terry Cannon, the executive director of the Baseball Reliquary, a Southern California-based organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history.
Instead, the key is altering baseball in ways that supersede statistics, Cannon said Tuesday.
The 50-candidate ballot includes individuals best known for their playing career in Major League Baseball, the Negro Leagues and All-Amerian Girls Professional Baseball League, along with executives and broadcasters.
The three candidates receiving the highest percentage of votes from the Baseball Reliquary’s membership are elected to the hall.
The three new inductees will be announced in May, with the Induction Day ceremony scheduled for July 15.
Other first-timers on the ballot include two-time Olympic gold medalist and football legend Jim Thorpe, who played for three National League teams from 1913-19, Masanori Murakami, Major League Baseball’s first Japanese- born player, and Kurt Bevacqua, a utility infielder with six major league teams from 1971-85, best remembered by Dodger fans for his feud with manager Tommy Lasorda.
The late manager Leo Durocher, who finished fourth in the voting for the 2017 Shrine of the Eternals class with votes on 24.8 percent of the ballots, is again on the ballot, along with broadcaster Bob Costas, fifth in voting for the 2017 class, receiving votes on 23.5 percent of the ballots.
John is best known for being the namesake of a surgical procedure that has extended many pitchers careers. He was the first to undergo the surgery in 1974. After being sidelined the rest of the season and the entire 1975 season, John returned to the mound in 1976, then became a 20-game winner for the first time in his career in 1977.
John pitched for the Dodgers from 1971-78, part of a 26-season career in which he won 288 games, 26th most in baseball history. All but two of the pitchers ahead of John on that list are in the Hall of Fame.
The exceptions are Roger Clemens, ninth on the list with 354 victories who has been dogged by suspicion he used performance-enhancing drugs, and the 19th century pitcher Bobby Mathews, 25th on the list with 297 victories, who played his entire career when the pitching mound was 50 feet from home plate — 10 feet, 6 inches less than the current distance.
John was among the nine former players and one late executive who appeared on the Modern Baseball Era ballot for the Hall of Fame last month, but failed to receive enough votes to be elected.
—City News Service