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Rand, Kevin (2007)

Writer: Maine Baseball HOF
Maine Baseball HOF
Aug 9, 2019
2 min read

Detroit Tigers athletic trainer Kevin Rand watches from the dugout before the April 24 game against the Chicago White Sox in Detroit. The Tigers lean on the expertise of Rand all year long to keep players healthy. The Associated Press

Kevin Rand has been participating in the national pastime since he was old enough to hold a ball. His initial success came in 1972, when he was a member of the Maine Little League championship team from Cape Elizabeth. Four years later Kevin was on hand for another state championship when the Cape Elizabeth High School baseball squad he was on won the Class B state title. The Capers repeated the feat the following spring.

Kevin went on to Bowdoin College, where met two future Maine Baseball Hall of Famers, Mike Linkovich, the team’s athletic trainer, and Carl “Stump” Merrill, a minor league manager in the New York Yankee organization who at the time also served as an assistant football coach for the Polar Bears. In 1981 Kevin won the Francis S. Dane award for his outstanding contributions to the Bowdoin baseball program. Armed with his Bowdoin diploma, athletic training experience gained under Linkovich, and a recommendation from Merrill, Kevin was chosen as head athletic trainer for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees of the Florida State League shortly after graduation. Kevin served seven seasons as athletic trainer for Yankee farm clubs in Fort Lauderdale, Albany, NY, and Columbus, OH before being named Yankees head minor league athletic trainer and rehabilitation supervisor in 1989. Kevin often worked year-round, serving as athletic trainer for teams in both the Venezuelan and Dominican Winter Leagues during his tenure with the Yankees.

Kevin got his chance to ply his trade in the big leagues in 1993, when he was hired as assistant athletic trainer for the Florida Marlins. Rand spent nine years with the Marlins, picking up a World Championship ring in 1997. In 2002 he moved to the Montreal Expos as an assistant athletic trainer, and the following year landed the job of head athletic trainer for the Detroit Tigers, a position he still holds. One of Kevin’s proudest moments took place in 2005, when he was the head athletic trainer for the American League all-stars for that year’s midsummer classic, which took place at Comerica Park in Detroit. 2006 was another big year for Rand. In addition to having his Tigers get to the World Series, Kevin and his staff were chosen as Major League Baseball’s athletic training staff of the year by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS).

Kevin’s father Leroy, a longtime coach and administrator of high school and American Legion baseball programs in Maine, is himself a member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. Will there be a third generation Rand in the Hall of Fame someday? It’s possible; Kevin and his wife Tisa are the proud parents of four sons, Keegan (10), Kamden (9), Kallen (6), and Kashton (4).




Catcher Alex Avila can keep his chin up thanks to the attention and expertise of Detroit Tigers trainer and Bowdoin College graduate Kevin Rand. The Associated Press

“There was just a trainer when I first started,” said Dombrowski, who is in his 34th season of professional baseball. “You might have nine people doing what one person did before. It’s a huge responsibility and we’re fortunate to have Kevin because he does a great job.”



Trainer Kevin Rand
 
 
 

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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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