Tammaro, Tony (2000)
Long recognized as one of Maine's most outstanding sports officials, Tony Tammaro will today be welcomed into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. He will be honored for over 60 years of dedicated participation in the National Pastime. He has done it all — player, manager, and umpire. And he 1s still umpiring in 2000, at the age of 80!!
His baseball career began in the early 1940’s when he played second base for Woodland High School. He joined the semi-pro town team but, like countless other young men of that time, wound up serving Uncle Sam in World War II. Stationed at Fort McLellan in Alabama, he did a lot of playing and umpiring. Among his new friends were Bobby Bragan and Tom Lasorda, both destined to be Major League Baseball managers.
Following his discharge from the service in 1945, Tony organized the Woodland Red Sox — a team for which he played and managed for several years. Omar Norton (HoF 96) recounts how Tony served as groundskeeper and general manager and reigned over the best field in Washington County. loday that field is the Tony Tammaro Athletic Field. Norton also labels Tony a scrappy second baseman who played the game hard but fairly, asking and giving no quarter to the opposition. He was a clutch hitter, a smart base runner who could steal a base when needed’’.
Tammaro also helped organize two long-time leagues: the Border League consisting of Canadian and American players in Maine and New Brunswick, including two Native American teams and the Quoddy League.
These leagues lasted a number of years.
Carlton Willey, former Braves and Mets pitcher (HoF ’70), is an alumnus of the Border League and a number of Maine HoFers including Dick Cormier Jim DiFrederico (°88), Woody Dunphy (’96) and Jerry Dulity (938) played here with teams such as the Houlton Collegians.
also helped organize Little League and Pony League teams.
As an umpire, Tony was one of the best. He worked many games in Washington County and the Maritime Provinces. He umpired the Junior National Tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and the Senior National tournament in Edmunston, New Brunswick, Canada. He still looks forward to umpiring and works in high school, semi-pro, college and American Legion games on both sides of the border.
Tony and Marjorie, his wife of 62 years, are still living in Woodland and have four adult “youngsters”; three daughters, Barbara Fournier of Farmington, Dorothy Cerbone of Brewer, Jane Bartram of Winterport and a son, Peter, living just outside Woodland.
Welcome to Tony — another treasure from Washington County!
From Bangor Daily News
"“He was larger than life,” said Mike Tammaro. “Everyone knew him, not only all across Maine but also in New Brunswick. The amount of people he knew was unbelievable. And the amazing thing was nobody said a bad thing about him. When it came to umpiring or refereeing, he was always fair.”
Tony Tammaro’s Memory Kept Alive with Baseball Tourney
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