Popular Phil Martin brings excellent credentials to the Baseball Hall of Fame-both as a player and as a coach. And nobody carries a greater love and understanding of the National Pastime.
With dad Sam and Uncle “Doc” Packard, both stars in the venerable Pine Tree League, it was natural that Phil would get early training at the diamond, He demonstrated his winning ways when as a freshman he notched two hits and four RBI as Paris High won the State Class B Championship. He was an outstanding pitcher at Paris and twirled two one-hitters in the 1954 high school tournament before losing 5-4 to York in the Western final-his fourth game in ten days.
Although a chipped elbow closed out a promising college career at the University of Maine, it wasn’t long before Phil began carving an enviable semi-pro record. In 1960, pitching for Norway-Paris Twins Martin was one of four pitchers selected to the American Amateur Baseball Congress All-Star Team as his team was a semifinalist at the annual Ann Arbor tournament. From 1961 through 1976 Phil pastimed for several teams in The Portland Twilight League and hurled no-hitters for Ametek and Yudy’s. He won his last game at the age of 40 but continued to coach or manage unti! 1981.
As a coach Phil has spent 32 years in the schoolboy ranks: Hodgdon High School 1958-59; Scarborough Junior High School 1960-71; Scarborough High School 1973-1989. He has also been assisting Jim Graffam at St. Joseph’s College with fall baseball. His high school Scarborough Redskins have garnered a lofty 180-99 record (65%). In 1986 his Redskins compiled a perfect 20-0 and, lead by Jim Dillon and John Alcorn, won the State “B” championship.
But win or lose Phil has always been a model teacher of baseball enthusiastic and intelligent-and while an intense competitor, always an exemplary sportsman.
His wife of 29 years, Pat, has been an ever-present supporter and their children Theresa and Jay both excelled in athletics. Theresa was a 1981 Maine Sports Hall of Fame scholar-athlete and Jay was two-time co-captain of basketball at Daniel Webster College.
Phil Martin Youth Baseball Award
From Legacy Portland Press Herald https://obituaries.pressherald.com/obituaries/mainetoday-pressherald/obituary.aspx?n=philip-t-martin&pid=171661809&fhid=29127
Phil had a 26 year career as a physical education teacher. He also was a referee for high school soccer, coached JV and varsity basketball, and varsity baseball. Of these activities, his true love was baseball.
Phil was very proud of the fact that at the age of 24, he played and managed for a Norway-Paris baseball team that placed fourth in a tournament against 13 of the best semi-pro teams east of the Mississippi. He continued playing for many years, ending his career in the Twilight League in Portland, throwing two no-hitters and pitching his final win at age 40.
He was also proud of his baseball coaching career of over 50 years, 33 as head coach of Scarborough High where he was known as much for his impact on his players as for his victories. One of those victories was a State Championship in 1986. A former player from this championship team said of Phil upon hearing of his passing: 'He was a great man who had a tremendous impact on my life. He always put his players first. (I was not a star player), but he still made me feel like I was just as important as the best players.' About the state championship, he further commented, 'I will never forget what it meant to Coach Martin.
He had this sense of joy and satisfaction that I can't describe. It was the crowning moment of a long career, but he never wanted the attention. He let the players be front and center and he sat in the background just beaming.'
Phil served in the Maine High School Coaches Association and the Maine Baseball Coaches Association, including 2 years as President for both. In 1988, Phil was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, which later honored him in 1990 as a co-recipient of the President's Award for recording his 200th win as Scarborough Baseball Coach.
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