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Young, Ken (1991)

Writer: Maine Baseball HOF
Maine Baseball HOF
Aug 8, 2019
2 min read



Young, Ken (91)

A native of Ogunquit, Young was a 6-foot-3-inch, 180-pound right hander who played in the Portsmouth Sunset League. He mixed a fast ball, curve and change, all out of the same motion. Clyde Sukeforth, (charter member, Maine Baseball Hall of Fame 1969) a catcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers, remembers Young. “I heard about him from a number of scouts who said we had a pretty good pitcher from Maine".


in 1940, Young was signed to his first professional contract by Bobby Coombs (Maine Baseball Hall of Fame 1970) who had major league experience with the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Giants. Offers also came from the Boston Braves and Athletics.

Young completed spring training at Shreveport, La. then was assigned to Marshall in the East Texas League, went to Houma, La. in the Evangeline League then back to Marshall on recall.

The league folded and Young, a free agent, signed with Oklahoma City Managed by Rogers Hornsby (Baseball hall of Fame 1942). He was sent to Salina, Kansas and from there to Wichita where he had a 16-3 season.


“This young kid, has everything going for him to be a major league pitcher" said Carl Hubbell (Baseball Hall of Fame 1947). He has the best change of pace I ever saw.

In the Navy during World War Il, Young played at Sampson Naval Base where the team manager was Johnny (Double No-hit) Vander Meer and the team record was 28-0.

Young was also stationed at Camp Bradford, Va. and pitched the first home game before 35,000 servicemen and women, beating Camp Lee 4-3. He shut out Fort Riley 9-0 on one hit. The only hit by the opposing team was by a shortstop named Jackie Robinson.

But sea duty followed and an injury ended Young's baseball career.

he spent three months in a naval hospital before returning to Maine. Ken Young's big league aspirations ended with an injury during World War Il military service, but he continued to scout for the St.Louis Cardinals until 1950 and still receives calls to look at young players.

"If the war had not come along, Ken had plenty of stuff to become a better than average major league pitcher’ Coombs said. "It was time to call it a day after 12 years of baseball", he said.


 
 
 

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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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