Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame Releases 2014 Candidates

CHARLESTON, SC - The Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame's advisory committee has released its candidates for the Class of 2014, and enshrinement will be conducted by voting from within the committee and from local fans.

The Committee announced that two members will be chosen through fan voting while the committee will vote in one member. Official ballots will be at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park beginning on Thursday, June 19 and on-line voting will also be available via this link: http://goo.gl/dcs8Mr.

Voting will conclude on Friday, Aug. 8. On Friday, Aug. 15, the three individuals selected for enshrinement will be inducted prior to the RiverDogs' game against the Rome Braves.

The Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame is coordinated and operated by the Charleston RiverDogs. An advisory committee consisting of knowledgeable and local volunteers was created to come up with the names as potential nominees. The Hall of Fame is located inside Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The finalists, in alphabetical order, for the Class of 2014 include:

• H.A. "Pete" Ayoub is a Charleston native who attended Clemson on a baseball scholarship and who was a three-year starter; led team in RBI and batting as a sophomore with a .349 average as a senior; selected as the First-Team All-ACC second baseman as a senior; career .318 batting average; returned to North Charleston High to coach and led his baseball teams to three consecutive state championships in 1965, 1966, and 1967 (this was the first time any team had won three consecutive baseball championships in South Carolina); served as Assistant Executive Director of the South Carolina High School League from 1980-86 and Executive Director of the SC High School League from 1986 until his retirement in 1998. Enshrined in the SC Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame in 2011.
   
• Lee Curtis hit .404 in his two years which is still the College of Charleston's all-time career mark and ranks third in Southern Conference history. His career slugging percentage of .742 and his 20 career triple lead the SoCon and CofC record books. He won the SoCon Player of the Year award in 2002 and 2003, and was All-SoCon first team. Curtis earned All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 2002 and '03. In 2003, Curtis batted .399 with 11 homers, 64 RBI and 20 stolen bases and was the only player in college baseball to have double-figure totals in homers, doubles (26), triples (11), RBI and stolen bases. Curtis was drafted in the 8th round by the Boston Red Sox in 2003. He is a member of the College of Charleston Baseball Wall of Fame.
   
• Kiki Cuyler is member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (1968) who played for the minor league Charleston Pals in 1922 (131 games) at Hampton Park; was an outfielder for 18 seasons (1921-38) with the Pirates, Cubs, Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers; burst into the Pirates lineup in '24, batting .354 as a rookie and the next year led the NL in triples (26), and runs (144), batted .357 while leading the Pirates to the World Series against Walter "Big Train" Johnson and the Senators; the next year he led the NL in runs (113) and stolen bases (35); traded to the Cubs, he continued to be a star over the next 7½ seasons, hitting over .300 five times, and helping them to the '29 and '33 World Series; named a starting outfielder on the NL's All-Star team (the second to be held); career totals were 1,879 games, 2,299 hits, 1,305 runs, 128 home runs, 1,065 RBI, 328 stolen bases and a .321 career average, hitting over .300 10 times (topping at .360 in 1929); deceased.
   
• Reese Havens was a three-year letterwinner at the University of South Carolina from 2006-08. In his three-year career, Havens tallied 215 career hits, currently 18^th most in school history. Havens played in 193 games in his three-year career and hit .298 (215-for-721) with 27 homers and 140 RBI. His junior year was his top season as he earned third team All-America honors and second team All-SEC recognition at shortstop for the 2008 season. That year, Havens started all 63 games for Carolina and batted .359 with 18 homers and 57 RBI to go along with 13 doubles and two triples. He was named to the 2008 NCAA Raleigh Regional All-Tournament team as well. He was drafted in the first round of the 2008 MLB Draft as the No. 22 overall selection by the New York Mets. Havens was added to the Mets 40 man roster on November 18, 2011 and retired from baseball on January 22, 2014 due to an injury plagued career.
   
• David Hoffman began his umpiring career at Parks Field in Summerville in 1974 and coached Little League for two years before deciding to move to umpiring with a career lasting from 1974-2013 (40 years). He umpired public and independent high school games, collegiate summer and college games and called more than 4,000 games in his career. In 1988 Hoffman served as crew chief in NAIA Regional 6 Tournament and in 1977 began umpiring college baseball at the Baptist College and The Citadel. In 1987 Hoffman began umpiring with the Charleston Umpire Association and The Independent High School League. He has since umpired high school playoffs in 1987, 1988 and state championship in 1988 for S.C. Independent League while also calling three Southern Conference and two Big South tournaments. Hoffman also umpired NCAA Division II Regionals and the Division II World Series in 1989, 1991 and 1996.
   
• Billy Swails, Jr., is a Mt. Pleasant native who was enshrined in The Citadel Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. A three-time member of the All-Southern Conference team as a second baseman, Swails earned a spot as a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America Team in 1989. He is a member of the Class of 1989.
   
• Torre Tyson, a Mt. Pleasant resident, is the winningest manager in Charleston RiverDogs history having amassed a 232-186 (.556 percentage) record including a high of 80 wins during the 2008 season. A graduate of the University of Missouri where he played second base, Tyson was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1998. He played in the Red Sox's organization in 1998-99. Signed by the New York Yankees, he made the South Atlantic League All-Star team in 2000 for the Greensboro Bats. He also played for the Tampa Yankees and Norwich Navigators in both 2001 and 2002. Tyson was a coach for the Staten Island Yankees in 2003, the GCL Yankees in 2004, and was the Charleston RiverDogs' hitting coach in 2005-2006. Serving as manager from 2007-09, the RiverDogs experienced tremendous successes on the field and at the gate. He served as the Yankees' minor league defensive coordinator in 2011-12, and moved to the Baltimore Orioles' organization as coach for the Frederick Keys in 2013-2014.

CHARLESTON BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

2013 - Steven Jackson

            Drew Meyer

            Britt Reames

2012 - Gettys Glaze

            Tom Hatley

            John Rhodes

2011 - Bill Ackerman

            Roberto Alomar

            Mike Kimbrell

2010 - Lee Glaze

            Fred Jordan

            D.K. Walters

           Kenny Wilkinson

2009 - John Dodds, Jr.

            W.S. "Bull" Durham

            Donald Morillo

            Doug Pounder

2008 - Bryce Florie

            Danny Jones

            Charley Smith

            Richard Wieters

2007 - 1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Star Team

            1990 Citadel World Series Team

            Anthony Jenkins

            Modie Risher

2006 - Ty Cline

            Mike Cook

            Gary McJunkin

            Chal Port

2005 - John Candelaria

2004 - David Cone

2003 - Willie Randolph

            Gorman Thomas