Awards and Honors
See also: List of Major League Baseball retired numbers#List of retired numbersAshburn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Hall's Veterans Committee in 1995 after a long fan campaign to induct him, which included bumper stickers that read, "Richie Ashburn: Why The Hall Not?" He accompanied Phillies great Mike Schmidt, who was inducted in the same ceremony. Over 25,000 fans, mostly from Philadelphia, traveled to Cooperstown for the ceremony.
Ashburn was posthumously inducted into the inaugural class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Each year the Phillies present the Richie Ashburn Special Achievement Award to "a member of the organization who has demonstrated loyalty, dedication and passion for the game."
The center-field entertainment area at the Phillies current stadium, Citizens Bank Park, is named Ashburn Alley in his honor in response to the demand of numerous fans requesting that the Phillies name the stadium in Ashburn's honor (due to Ashburn's 47 seasons of service to the Phillies organization, which was second in length in Philadelphia baseball history only to Connie Mack, who was so honored with the renaming of Shibe Park in 1953).
At Citizens Bank Park the Phillies' radio-broadcast booth is named "The Richie 'Whitey' Ashburn Broadcast Booth". It is directly next to the TV-broadcast booth, which was renamed "The Harry Kalas Broadcast Booth" after Kalas's death in 2009.
Read more about this topic: Richie Ashburn
Famous quotes containing the word honors:
“My hearts subdued
Even to the very quality of my lord.
I saw Othellos visage in his mind,
And to his honors and his valiant parts
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)