John Schuerholz ‘62 to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame

As a child, all John Schuerholz ‘62 would dream about was becoming a Major League Baseball player. Unfortunately for the Baltimore, Maryland, native, that dream wasn’t in the cards.

“I expected to be a major league baseball player,” he told Towson University magazine in June 2016. “I could hit, I could run and I could field. But I was small — too small. So being a major league ballplayer just wasn’t in the cards for me.”

And while the TU alumnus never made it to the field, he did make it to “The Show” with a career as an executive. And through his work in the front offices of the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves, he has built teams that have won two World Series titles, seven league pennants and numerous division titles.

With all those credentials, it wasn’t a surprise when it was announced on Sunday afternoon that Schuerholz will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

He was a unanimous selection of the Today’s Game Era Committee, a 16-member group consisting of Hall of Fame members, major league executives, media members and baseball historians.

“I always had aspirations of being a successful general manager, to build winning teams and we were able to do that,” Schuerholz told reporters in a teleconference on Sunday. “But this honor almost — it puts me in a position where I seldom am, and that is to be without words to describe what this means to me.

“(Being told of this selection) those words will ring in my ears and in my brain for the rest of my life. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am.

During his time at what was then called Towson State, Schuerholz was an all-conference player in both baseball and soccer. He also was named the school’s athlete of the year in his senior season.

After graduating in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in education, he was working a full-time teaching job at North Point Junior High School. But his first love — baseball — was still tugging at his heart.

So in 1966 he sent a letter to Frank Cashen, who at the time was the president of the Baltimore Orioles. Cashen brought him in for an interview and hired him as an assistant to the director of player development.

And as the popular saying goes, the rest is history.

“I started with the Orioles in 1966 and that began this wonderful career path for me,” Schuerholz told reporters. “I’ve been so blessed to have the opportunity initially and to work with so many great and talented people along the way. I kept my ears and eyes open and tried to learn from the greatest and the best and here I am, 50 years later, being told that I’ve been selected to be inducted into baseball’s hall of fame.”

Schuerholz was named general manager of the Kansas City Royals in 1981 and led the team to a World Series title in 1985. He then took the same position with the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and led them to 14 straight division titles, six National League pennants and a World Series title in 1995.

He was the first baseball executive to be the general manager of world championship teams in both the American and National Leagues. He’s also been named Major League Baseball’s executive of the year in both 1985 and 1991.

Schuerholz currently serves as vice chairman for the Atlanta Braves after serving as president of baseball operations from 2007 until 2016.

And while much of his time is spent in Atlanta, Schuerholz has still kept a close relationship with Towson University.

This includes John B. Schuerholz Park, the official home of the Towson University baseball team. Schuerholz provided the seed money and served as chair of the fundraising drive to upgrade TU’s baseball facility and name it for his late father, John Schuerholz, Sr.

The effort to upgrade the baseball facility was something that Schuerholz wanted to do to help give back to a university that means so much to him.

“I love Towson University, from the day I stepped on campus to this very day,” he said in June. “Four of the greatest years of my life happened on this small campus, northwest of Baltimore.”

Schuerholz’s induction will take place during the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s annual Hall of Fame Weekend, starting on July 28, 2017. The ceremony will be held at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.