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Cook, Kenneth “Bud” (2007)

Writer: Maine Baseball HOF
Maine Baseball HOF
Aug 12, 2019
2 min read

Cook, Kenneth “Bud” (07)

The rich heritage of grassroots baseball in Maine includes numerous benefactors whose generosity of spirit and checkbook was instrumental in the development of organized youth leagues and town teams throughout the state.

Bud Cook has long been acknowledged as such a figure in the Farmington area. With his induction today into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, the well-deserved recognition becomes official.

A 1944 graduate of Wilton Academy, Bud served in the Infantry and Army Air Corps in World War II. Bud later attended Southeast Missouri State where he played football and spent his college summers past-timing with semipro town teams in Cape Girardo and Perryville, Missouri.

Bud and his family returned to Farmington in 1952 and Bud began his 32 year career at Morton Motor Company, eventually buying the firm in 1970.

Bud quickly recognized the abundance of young ballplayers in Farmington, not all of whom were getting a chance to play, and founded the Farmington Pirates, only the second youth league team in Farmington. Bud built a powerhouse ball club, playing against teams from Strong, Temple, Jay, Livermore and Wilton, while developing a fierce cross-town rivalry with the Braves.

Bud led a group of town fathers in constructing and equipping the first regulation little league field in Farmington.

Counting Little League, Pony and Babe Ruth Leagues, Bud served as head coach or assistant for 15 years in addition to two terms as commissioner of Little League baseball in Franklin County.

In 1972 Bud rejuvenated the dormant Farmington Flyers, a legendary town team from the 50’s and 60’s. Bud recruited Warren “Red” Dean, who was the varsity baseball coach at the Farmington High School, and Roy Gordon, head coach at the University of Maine at Farmington, to spearhead a talented ball club that won 32 straight games en route to a Pine Tree League Championship. Icing on that memorable cake were two other Cooks on the roster - Bud’s sons Randy, a catcher, and Brad, the right fielder.

Bud’s commitment to promoting and supporting baseball in the Farmington area is complemented by an outstanding career in public citizenry including membership in Maine Masonic Lodge #20 A.F. & A.M., the Kora Temple Shrine in Lewiston and American Legion Post 28 in Farmington. He is a Charter member of the Farmington Kiwanis Club and a past King Lion. Bud also devotes countless hours of volunteering at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

While the record of Bud’s service to the Maine baseball community is impressive enough, his more enduring legacy may be his ardent support of well-qualified but under-recognized ballplayers from Franklin County. Thanks to Bud’s diligent research and dogged advocacy, the doors of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame have welcomed numerous deserving inductees from Franklin County.

Those boys will no doubt make him feel right at home.

 
 
 

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Meet the 2026 Maine Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
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Portland Press Herald 4/10/2026
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/04/10/meet-the-2026-maine-baseball-hall-of-fame-inductees/?copylink=true

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Former St. Dominic and current Gray-New Gloucester coach Bob Blackman and Cony coach Don Plourde are among the 11 members of the newest class. Four coaches currently preparing for the upcoming high school baseball season are among the 11 inductees in the 2026 Maine Baseball Hall of Fame class.

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Gray-New Gloucester’s Bob Blackman, Brewer’s Dana Corey, Hampden Academy’s Jon Perry and Cony’s Don Plourde are all part of the class that will be inducted on Oct. 4 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. Blackman coached St. Dominic High School to nine state championships in 22 seasons before the school closed at the end of the last school year. He was named the coach at Gray-New Gloucester in September. Corey hit .359 at the University of Maine in 1971. He played two seasons in the Chicago Cubs system and has been the head coach at Brewer for 18 seasons.

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Perry hit .381 at the University of Maine in 1981 and helped the Black Bears reach the College World Series. He has coached for the past 45 seasons at the high school, American Legion and collegiate levels. 

Plourde is in his 17th season as the coach at Cony High School and has been named the KVAC Coach of the Year five times. He has been coaching at various levels for more than 30 years. 

Others earning induction are: 

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• Al Cloutier, who has been involved in baseball in Augusta as a player, Cony High and American Legion coach, Babe Ruth League director and volunteer. 

• John Kolasinski, who was a college coach at for 37 years, first at Husson and later at Siena Heights University in Michigan. He is a five-time New England Coach of the Year winner.

• Mark Littlefield, a Portland High graduate, who is now in his 36th season working on the medical staff of the New York Yankees organization. 

• Scott Littlefield, a Portland High graduate, who will be inducted posthumously. Littlefield coached at Florida State University and the University of Southern Maine before working for 34 years as a Major League Baseball scout, including 16 as a player personnel special assistant for the Texas Rangers.

• J. Ronald Livington, who will be inducted posthumously. Livingston was an All-Star infielder for the semi-pro Presque Isle Indians in the Northern Aroostook League in the 1930 and 1940s. He also coached and was a director in the South Portland National Little League.

• Mike McCullum, of Portland, who hit .338 at the University of Southern Maine and earned ABCA Division III All-American honors in 1999. 

• Jim Taylor of Lewiston, who was a founding member of the Central Maine Board of Approved Baseball Umpires and was instrumental in starting the Maine chapter of the Collegiate Baseball Umpires Association.

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Maine Baseball Hall of Fame day  Delta Dental Park aka Hadlock Field 7/19/2026
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