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One of Cheverus High’s all-time athletic greats, Clyt Theriault never weighed more than 145 pounds in high school. Nonetheless, he was outstanding in football, basketball and especially baseball. In baseball, he was an all-around player, a pitcher with leverage, zip, velocity, a sharp curve and an even sharper mound brain. He was twice All-Telegram, also toiling in the infield. In fact, it was Theriault’s timely hit in 1936 that gave the Stags their first-ever league championship. Later on, he was very active in semi-pro diamond circles, even playing in the Canadian-American League for five years, after returning from the South Pacific with the Maine National Guard. For all his baseball success, Theriault will be inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame this year. A triple-threat quarterback in football and a sharp forward in basketball (he could sting teammates’ hands with his speedy passes, a carryover from football). He attended Holy Cross College, pitching for the baseball team for two seasons, before succumbing to his blithe spirit that made studying difficult and leaving school.

When John Thoits, the side-wheeling right-hander, took the mound, he went with the mindset “I’m the king of the Hill!” It was the other teams job to knock him off it if they could. Seldom, they could. John would be first to congratulate them if they could. John’s starry career spanned the 1950’s through the 1960's. John pitched and played outfield for four years for Falmouth High and Falmouth Legion. He was chosen to the combined Triple C and Telegram All-Star team in 1955. In 1955 he joined the U.S. Army where he pitched for the military. He was chosen during that time to represent the Alaska All-Stars. He left the military in 1958. The legendary Charlie Turner of the Yarmouth Townies came Knocking on his door that winter. John became the prominent Twilight League pitcher of the Late 1950's and early 1960’s. As captain, his team won numerous Twilight League Championships. John pitched two no hitters and several one hitters during this span. In 1963 John pitched the Yarmouth Townies to the Carlton Willey Semi Pro State Invitational Tournament and was presented with the trophy. Today John Thoits is joining nearly twenty other members of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame that wore the storied Yarmouth Townies uniform. Long time great umpire and Maine Baseball Hall of Fame member , Ed Ainsworth, calls John “The best right-hander I ever saw in these parts. He owned the inside corner.’ THOITS, JOHN D. - 76. of Gray, at Togus VA Hospice, Nov.14, 2012.

Thomas, "crowding 87", played third base for South Portland high and the Irons and Maine Centrals in the Pine Tree and Twin state leagues. Thomas, like Gaskill, was a busy player for the area semi pro outfits from 1905 to 1920. He played for South Portland Ligonia Irons in '08 and that included Howard Richardson, Joe Walsh, Lincoln Davies, PJ Hinds, Phil Hughes, WJ Scoot Carey, John Hinds, Frank and John Ham, and Frank Wilkerson. He joined the local musical equipment firm of Cressey and Allen in 1917, rose to assistant treasurer, then left that firm and worked another 7 years as sales manager for Philco distributors.

One baseball honor had escaped Mexico native Stan Thomas, who in a four-year major league career had pitched for Texas, Cleveland, Seattle and the New York Yankees. ‘‘Hey, find out from those guys back there when I’m going to make the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame,’’ he prompted an interviewing reporter in 1984. A bit late, perhaps, the powerful righthander joins that select group. He’ll fly to Portland from Redmond, Wash., where he resides with wife Jayne and five-year-old daughter Jayne Leigh. Thomas represents Washington and Oregon for a sporting goods firm based in Santa Ana, Calif. Teenager Thomas left Maine for a summer Williams’ baseball camp, two years at Florida State and a summer with the Rookie League. He was 14-3 at the University of New Haven, Conn., and was first signed by the Washington Senators. Then came the minors — Burlington, N.Y., of the NY-Penn League, Pittsfield, Mass., of the Eastern and Spokane, Wash., of the Pacific Coast. Spokane’s parent club, the Texas Rangers, summoned Thomas June 27, 1974. On July 6, he was called to the mound in the first inning by Rangers’ manager Billy Martin to face the Yankees with the bases loaded and none out. Stan’s first pitch was cracked for a single. Next night — the same bases-full situation. Bobby Murcer promptly singled. Things were a bit better in the final game of the series. Thomas toiled for the Maracaibo (Venezuela) Oilers of the Inter-American League in 1979, and for the Mexico City Tigers of the Mexican League in 1980. Thomas’ first meeting with South Portland’s Jim Beattie was unique. Thomas came on in the ninth inning to relieve Syracuse, N.Y., Chiefs starter Beattie. The Yankees’ International League Triple A farm team beat Tidewater, 6-1. Thomas received more ink from one incident than in compiling an 11-14 record. He was fined a reported $1,000 by Seattle manager Darrell Johnson for seemingly taking aim at the head of Minnesota’s Mike Cubbage. Thomas recalls a phone conversation with his Dad after a miserable 1-6 record at the All-Star break. Henry cautioned, ‘‘If you can’t get ’em out you can come home and work around the yard with your brother.’’ What a motivator can do to lift you to a 7-7 record and to the big leagues in two years! From Baseball Reference Stan Thomas Position: Pitcher Bats: Right • Throws: Right 6-2, 185lb (188cm, 83kg) Born: July 11, 1949 (Age: 70-018d) in Rumford, ME us Draft: Drafted by the Washington Senators in the 27th round of the 1971 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of New Haven (West Haven, CT). Schools: Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL), University of New Haven (West Haven, CT) https://mlblogspinstripebirthdays.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/july-11-happy-birthday-stan-thomas/

From Bangor Daily News College World Series trip highlight of Belfast native’s baseball career https://bangordailynews.com/2017/08/29/sports/college-world-series-trip-highlight-of-belfast-natives-baseball-career/ By Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff • August 29, 2017 10:51 am Updated: August 30, 2017 10:18 am Dave “Zippy” Thompson said he never thought about being inducted into the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame — or any hall of fame. So when he found out that he was being inducted into the UMaine hall next month, he was caught completely off guard. “Was I surprised? Good Lord…,” said Thompson, the captain and third baseman for the Black Bears’ 1964 College World Series team. “I was very pleased. I was very humbled by it because there were players who were far better than I was. For an old goat like me, it is a terrific honor.” Thompson, a left-handed hitter, led the Black Bears to a 3-2 record and a third-place finish at the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska. He hit safely in all five games and batted .315 average to earn a spot on the all-tourney team. It was the first of seven trips to the CWS by the UMaine baseball program. “Since I didn’t go on to play professionally, that was probably the biggest thing in my life,” recalled the 76-year-old Thompson, a Belfast native who now lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania. “Here I was from a small town going out there to play for the national championship, something no Maine team had ever done before. “And we were playing big teams like USC, Minnesota and Arizona State,” said Thompson. The Black Bears beat USC, Arizona State and Seton Hall while losing to Minnesota and then being eliminated by Missouri 2-1. Because they were such underdogs, Thompson said the Black Bears became the “darlings of the fans. Everybody loved us out there.” Thompson, one of only two seniors on the 1964 team along with Dick Dolloff, also had captained the squad his junior year. “I had played two summers in the Cape Cod League so I tried to impart things I had learned from older guys to the young kids on our team. I would say 80 percent of our players were sophomores. They were great young players,” said Thompson, who added that they were responsive to his suggestions. Shortstop Dick DeVarney, catcher Carl “Stump” Merrill and pitcher and tournament Most Valuable Player Joe Ferris, were among the stars along with Thompson. Thompson could have been awestruck playing in the College World Series and it could have negatively affected his performance. But he really came through. He had the only UMaine hit against Minnesota. “I did have a good tournament,” he acknowledged. Thompson had shared the second base job with Len McPhee earlier in his UMaine career but became the starting third baseman his senior year. “Vic Nelson and I were going to split time at second but (coach Jack Butterfield) moved me to third so we could both play,” said Thompson. In order to qualify for the College World Series, UMaine had to first get past Northeastern in a best-of-three series at Boston’s Fenway Park and the Black Bears swept the Huskies. “That was a big deal. I had a lot of great experiences. I met a lot of good guys that I played ball with at Maine and in the Cape Cod League,” said Thompson. “But the College World Series was the topper.” He takes pride in the fact that the 1964 team supplied the university and state with tremendous national exposure. “All these years later, I’ll run into people who remember us from the World Series. It’s amazing. It has had quite an impact on me,” said Thompson who noted that the baseball program received a lot of money from donors after that season. “That set the stage for later (successes). It really jump started baseball and maybe more (sports). The baseball team was able to take a lot more trips,” said Thompson. Thompson earned a degree in education and taught school for three years before joining the Marine Corps and serving as a platoon commander in Vietnam. He attained the rank of captain. He then went to work for Abex Corporation, which fabricated steel for train and subway tracks so they could switch over to a new line. He worked for them for over 30 years into his early 70s before retiring. He was a manager on several projects and traveled extensively. He is excited about meeting his fellow inductees, including the national champion 1993 UMaine hockey team. “I used to come up a lot to see them play. Paul Kariya was terrific. They were great to watch,” said Thompson.

Percy (Deac) Thompson and George T Davis, both of Portland, were stand out high school athletes in the late 'teens. Davis went on to star for Bowdoin College, and Thomas was an area sandlot whiz who amazed nationally known barnstorming outfits with his deft glove and powerful bat. Vern Putney PPH 1977

William E. "Bill” Thurston is head baseball coach at Amherst College, one of America’s most prestigious private, undergraduate liberal arts institutions. An internationally-recognized authority who has coached his teams to more than 500 wins, Thurston still feels the tug of his Maine roots. “Even though my college playing days and coaching career have been outside the State, |I still consider myself a true Mainer, and a farm boy at that,” said Thurston. Thurston grew up in Norway where he started his baseball career as an outstanding player under coach Edward Woodbrey, brother of Vic Woodbrey (HoF ‘89) and father of Mark Woodbrey who played for Thurston at Amherst. A tour-year letterman in baseball and football at Norway High School 1949-1953, also won three letters in basketball and was a member of the 1952 Western Maine baseball champions. He went on to the University of Michigan where he was the Wolverines’ top pitcher in 1955 and 1956. During those two seasons, Thurston also led the team in hitting. After his junior season, Thurston signed a professional contract with the Detroit Tigers. Over the next three years, he played in the Tigers organization at Augusta, Ga. in the Sally League, of Syracuse, N.Y. in the Eastern League, Durham, N.C. in the Carolina League and with Lancaster, Pa. in the Eastern League. Bill completed his undergraduate degree at Michigan in 1958 and earned a master’s degree four years later. Thurston's first coaching jobs were at Garden City (Mich.) High school and Fordson High School in Dearborn, Mich. His appointment at Amherst came in 1965 and since then the Lord Jeffs have won 65 percent of their games. Thurston has been named New England Coach of the Year three times, Amherst has won five ECAC championships and since 1980, has been ranked No. 1 in Division four times, second twice and third four times. During Thurston’s tenure, 19 players have signed professional contracts, two Nave pitched in the Major Leagues and 12 serve in administrative capacities in professional baseball. Mainers who have played for Thurston at Amherst include Woodbrey (HoF Don Douglas (HoF ‘91), Barry Roderick (HoF ‘87), Kyle O’Brien, Art Boothby, Jim Philbrick, Craig Furbush, lan Kopp, and Hoddy Nichols. When Woodbrey, an All-American who played in the San Francisco Giants’ organization, was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, Thurston spoke on his behalf. in addition to coaching at Amherst, Thurston has served as head coach of the Australian National Team, pitching coach of the USA National Team and has coached teams and conducted clinics in Canada, China, Holland, Italy, Panama and Romania. Thurston has served as NCAA Baseball Rules Editor since 1985 and is the author of a book, “An Instructional Manual for Pitchers and Pitching Coaches”, written in 1994. An entertaining story-teller, Thurston has been speaker at the National ABCA convention seven times and is a featured clinician at six to eight regional clinics each year. From Amherst College https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/magazine/issues/2008_spring/sports/thurston Coach Thurston’s Playbook By Kevin Graber "I'm on the wrong side of 70," Bill Thurston says, "but I don't feel it." Theirs was a typical small New England dairy farm—12, maybe 15 head of cattle, a few acres of corn and string beans, an old pickup truck and some horses for plowing. As a boy, Bill Thurston milked cows, picked beans and hoed corn alongside his father, Chester, whose ancestors had migrated from England in 1635. At the end of each day, with the horses fed and the last fence post dug, father and son would stand and survey their patch of post-World War II Americana. That Bill Thurston would emerge as one of the most influential figures in contemporary baseball history seems unlikely, if not extraordinary. But this farm boy from Norway, Maine, has done more than just guide the Amherst baseball team to more than 780 victories over more than four decades (good for 14th all-time, according to the NCAA record book). Thurston has directly affected the way the game is played, taught, staffed, researched, officiated and equipped at both the national and global levels—in a way that sets him apart from nearly anyone else since the demise of the flannel uniform. Thurston, now in his 43rd season at Amherst (while I’m in my third as one of his assistant coaches) is more than just a small-college baseball coach with a cache of wins. He’s a pioneering clinician, author, biomechanist, rules aficionado, safety advocate and international baseball ambassador, his fingerprints affixed on nearly every facet of the modern game, from rules to bat manufacturing to pitching mechanics. As a boy, Thurston spent his idle hours peppering makeshift targets with rocks, snowballs and crabapples—whatever he could get his hands on. When that wasn’t enough, he batted beat-up balls off a homemade tee in the barn and recruited pals to help construct a backstop, home plate and pitcher’s mound on his parents’ cow pasture. “If we didn’t take 200 swings a day, it must’ve been raining,” he says. He played his first organized game at 13 and went on to star in baseball, basketball and football at tiny Norway High. By his senior year, he had sprouted to 6 feet, 2 inches and was already playing in a college summer league. He secured a baseball scholarship at the University of Michigan, where he batted .476 in conference play as a junior, nearly leading the Big 10 in hitting and emerging as one of the Wolverines’ top pitchers. He signed with the Detroit Tigers as a gap-hitting outfielder in 1956, spending the next several years in remote minor league outposts. But a future in Detroit never panned out. And so, with a master’s degree from Michigan in administration of physical education and athletics, Thurston taught and coached in Michigan public schools until he heard that Amherst was seeking a baseball coach. For his interview at the college, Thurston brought along a self-authored 50-page playbook to impress upon then-president Calvin Plimpton ’39 that he was a true scholar of the game. Thus began a coaching tenure that would outlast The Beatles, disco, the Cold War and the turn of a millennium. Thurston replaced Paul Eckley, who coached 29 seasons at Amherst. Eckley, whom The Amherst Student called “the dean of American baseball coaches,” was one of the first inductees into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. But his program had fallen on lean times, with wins hard to come by. “Paul was a grand old man of baseball, and we loved him,” says Dave Martula ’66, who played three seasons under Eckley and one under Thurston. “But he was old-style, a grandfather. Then here comes this new guy who’s slim, trim and athletic, who knows his stuff, can play better ball than we can. I think he developed a competitive edge in all of us.” The 1966 season, Thurston’s first, brought a 6-8 record. His first four clubs combined for a disappointing 34-53-3 mark. “It was tough,” Thurston says. “I’m not known for my patience.” By 1970, with a trio of recruiting classes under Thurston’s belt, the program had begun to turn the corner. Out of high school, Dave Cichon ’70 had his pick of Division I schools but chose Amherst. Barry Roderick ’71, a future pro player, followed suit, as did Bobby Jones ’71 and Rich Bedard ’71, both future professional draft picks. By 1980, the Jeffs were churning out ECAC championships with regularity. The 1980 team boasted no fewer than nine players who ended up in professional baseball, including future major leaguers Rich Thompson ’80 and John Cerutti ’82. In all, 23 of Thurston’s players have signed professional contracts; at least 16 others work in administrative capacities throughout Major League Baseball. Thurston can be a bear to play for, as he readily admits. “He pushed you harder than you thought you could be pushed,” recalls Neal Huntington ’91, general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates (see “The personal touch,” page 36). “But he brought more out of me than I knew I had in there.” And victories have piled high. The Jeffs have cracked the 20-win plateau 19 times since 1973, securing five ECAC titles, a pair of NESCAC crowns and six NCAA Tournament berths. Thurston has earned four New England Coach of the Year honors.

Stan Timberlake’s daughter, Sheila, recalls her father’s baseball career this way: “For me,” she writes, “Pettingill Park (in Auburn) was fun on the swings. But for my father, Pettingill Park was where history was made.” Stan Timberlake was a triple-threat baseball player. His repertoire included a bewildering fastball and curve, a swing that often produced doubles, triples, and homers, and the speed to steal second, third, and home in succession and chase down fly balls into the farthest corners of the Andy County League’s outfields. But he was a pitcher first. In a 14-year career with the Turner Townies, the crux team of the Andy County League (nee Twin City League) in the 1950s and 1960s, lefty Timberlake won more than 170 regular season and playoff games and lost perhaps thirty, a .850 winning percentage. When he wasn’t pitching, he alternated at first base and in the outfield, hit second in the Townies’ batting order, and threatened to score from anywhere on the base path. In 1957, Turner and Timberlake made a run for the ACL flag. Timberlake pitched two no hitters and a perfect game that season, led the Townies to the ACL championship, and won the Yankee Amateur Baseball Congress (YABC) tournament at Pettingill Park—where history was made—in Auburn. His playoff pitching (undefeated) and hitting (.565) resulted in his being awarded the YABC’s E.A. Pelletier award for the most valuable player in the tournament. The Townies traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan that year to play in the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC) national championship tournament. Later, after three more ACL championships with the Turner Townies, a YABC appearance at Pettingill Park with Mechanic Falls, and a trip to Battle Creek with Chi‑Liv, Timberlake took on a new challenge with the Townies, player-manager. In 1963 he played and managed the Townies to an 11-0 regular season record and the Andy County League championship. In the YABC qualifying tournament at Pettingill Park, he struck out nine Lisbon Merchants and drove in the winning run to clinch a trip to the AABC regionals in New Haven, Connecticut. Timberlake would return to the YABC tournament as the Townies’ player‑manager three more times—in 1964 when pitcher Timberlake clinched a spot with a 2-1 win over Mechanic Falls, in 1965 when manager Timberlake put pitcher Timberlake on the mound two consecutive days and he twirled two wins to get his Townies into the tourney , and in 1967 when the Townies streaked to eleven consecutive wins at the end of the season to nab first place in the ACL, the last win a one‑hit shutout by Timberlake who struck out eleven. Four times—Mechanic Falls, Lisbon Falls, Chi-Liv, and the Lisbon Legion—Timberlake was invited to join a YABC qualifier as a roster add‑on. In all, he went to the YABC playoffs nine times, pitched five victories with no defeats, and added who knows how many hits, runs driven in, and stolen bases to his Pettingill Park numbers. And he made a second appearance in the national AABC tournament in Battle Creek when Chi‑Liv invited him onto their roster in 1958. During his baseball-playing heyday, Timberlake’s exemplary baseball skills were widely known. As a youth, he was recruited by the Cushing Academy, a college prep school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, to attend school there and join their athletic program. Later he was invited to attend Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, and play baseball. And still later, after major-league scouts had observed him at Pettingill Park—where history was being made—he was offered a chance to try out with the Cincinnati Reds. But Timberlake was a home-town boy, eventually landing a full-time job there and taking on family responsibilities of his own. For him, baseball was evenings after work and Sunday afternoons. Timberlake’s baseball career ended in the 1970s following a number of years of working with Turner’s little league, a team that he helped establish, as coach and assistant coach. A short time after retiring from baseball, he retired from driving stock cars at Oxford Plains Speedway, as well—a successful endeavor that had resulted in a his winning the Oxford Plains 6-cylinder championship in 1969—and concentrated on his golf swing. He still plays competitive golf at his home course, Turner Highlands, where he frequently nabs the annual senior golf championship and is known for at least one hole‑in‑one. Stan Timberlake is a modest man. He doesn’t dwell on his athletic exploits. (When pressed, however, he might tell you about the time Bob Baumer (HOF 2011) of the Lisbon Falls Roberts 88’ers drilled a “single” at him in right field, and Stan threw him out at first base.) But he performed consistently over a period of many years as an exemplary baseball player, manager, and mentor, an example of baseball excellence. Adrien “Drig” Fournier (HOF 2004), a baseball luminary from Timberlake’s heyday, says, “It was an honor to play against him.” Stan lives in Howes Corner now with Erica, and entertains three grandchildren and two great grandchildren with stories of his history‑making baseball days. Maine Baseball HOF: Timberlake helped put Turner on baseball map https://www.sunjournal.com/2012/08/01/maine-baseball-hof-timberlake-helped-put-turner-baseball-map/ BY RANDY WHITEHOUSE, STAFF WRITER Posted August 1, 2012 TURNER — Like a lot of boys of his generation — and only a few more generations to follow — Stan Timberlake would get home from school, hop on his bike and ride three miles to the nearest baseball field. Timberlake would meet his friends at the North Parish Road diamond and play until supper. He would race home to eat, and once he cleared the last crumb off the plate, he would jump on the bike again and pedal furiously for another three miles so he could squeeze as many innings as they could out of the fading sunlight. “We lived to play baseball,” he said. “Of course, there weren’t the things to do then that there is now. We played baseball and we played more baseball.” Little did Timberlake know at the time, but he and many of his friends would one day put their tiny farming town on the baseball map. The Townies played independently for a year before joining the dying Twin City League. The lefthander patrolled the outfield or first base and had the power and bat control to hit anywhere along the top half of the batting order. But the Townies were often at their best when he was on the mound. And he was on the mound a lot. He’d often pitch nine innings on Friday and toe the rubber again on Sunday for both ends of a doubleheader. “I never had a sore arm. I had tired arm, but sometimes when I was tired I had a better curve than when I was strong,” he said. Coming from a tiny farm town, the Townies could barely get enough players to fill their roster, so they would often draw from surrounding towns. At various times, Timberlake counted among his teammates Maine Baseball Hall of Famers Drig Fournier, Al Davis, Steve Lancaster and fellow 2012 inductee Wilfred Laverdiere, as well as Fern and Reggie Masse, Ronnie Desjardins, Johnny Lawler and Joe Spano. “We’d play baseball, then we’d go back and hay when we got done, and we’d get most of the guys to go with us,” Timberlake said. Town team baseball drew large crowds, and the Townies had a large and faithful following that supported the team at home and on the road. “One night, we went to West Minot and we only had nine players for some reason or other,” he said. “Andy Woodard, a guy we’d picked up in Auburn, was the first batter up. The first pitch was just about even with the top of his visor and the umpire said ‘Strike.’ He was the father of a couple guys that played for West Minot. Andy turned around and said something to him, nothing really bad, and the ump said, ‘You’re out of the ballgame.'” “Well, he knew we only had nine players,” Timberlake added. “I was managing and I went out to get my two cents worth in and I got thrown out, too. So we started packing up our stuff to go home, and they said, ‘Come on, stay. We’ll give you a couple of our players.’ They wanted to pass the hat because we had such a crowd with us. We said we’d go back to Turner and practice.” In 1957, a scout from the Cincinnati Redlegs offered Timberlake a shot at playing professionally, but with a wife and young son to support, he decided to stay in the hay fields. Besides, playing baseball in Maine could still be lucrative. “I played in two French-Irish games (held at Pettengill Park annually). I think I got 125 bucks. That’s more than I made in a week,” he said. Like many of his town team peers, Timberlake moonlighted for other teams when the Townies weren’t playing. He played for Bates Manufacturing and the Lisbon 88ers, and made another trip to Battle Creek with Chi-Liv in the early 1960s. The Auburn Asas tried to recruit him, too, but Timberlake had to decline the invitation to keep a roof over his head. “Well, I was living with Paul Varney at the time and he wasn’t very happy (with the Asas). I would have been sleeping in the barn if I’d ever gone,” he said. Timberlake started developing other interests in the late 1960s and his playing career wound down. He took up golf and raced stock cars at Oxford Plains Speedway (He beat track legend and Turner neighbor Mike Rowe one year for the Charger championship). He also helped organize Little League baseball in Turner. He stopped playing in 1972, but the Turner Townies will live on in the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame when Timberlake is inducted on Aug. 5.

Carlos Tosca has already made it difficult to imagine a Portland Sea Dogs game at Hadlock Field without him sitting in the first-base dugout or standing in the third base coach’s box. New players come and go each season, Tosca continues to provide fans a friendly and familiar face as the team’s respected and popular manager. The Sea Dogs’ only skipper so far, Tosca entered his third season in Portland with a .520 winning percentage (619-572) through 15 years in professional baseball. Tosca led Portland to an Eastern League divisional title last season, and the team's 86 wins stand as the Florida Marlins’ organizational record. Tosca, 42, was honored with Florida’s Carl Barger Player Development Person of the Year Award after an impressive wave of the team’s prospects thrived under him in 1995. More than his record or awards, however, Tosca has won the affection and respect of local fans with his sincerity, work ethic and warm smile. Whether he is chatting with fans near his coach’s box during a game or answering a reporter’s questions afterward, Tosca’s perspective and humanity shows through. he fled his homeland of Cuba with family when he was 8. Through considerable adversity, including a 9-year separation from his father, baseball remained a passion for Tosca. Tosca became a good player for Brandon High in Florida and later played for the University of South Florida as a reserve outfielder. At USF, Tosca played for Jack Butterfield, who had also coached the University of Maine for 18 years and went on to become a top minor-league official for the New York Yankees. Tosca still calls Butterfield, who gave him his break into professional coaching in 1978 but died in a car crash the next year, “the greatest man i ever met.” As Butterfield did for him, Tosca preaches discipline, hard work and attention to detail. Butterfield taught him that baseball should be played with pride, determination and respect, but also that... . “If the only thing we learned from him was baseball, then he had failed at his job,” Tosca recalls. Tosca has succeeded in being an asset to this community through his work with team charities such as the Maine Children’s Cancer Program and by making numerous speeches to groups throughout the greater Portland area. As a professional manager and coach, Tosca has worked with the likes of Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Jose Rijo, Roberto Kelly and Charles Johnson. Whether or not he moves up to the major leagues himself some day, Tosca’s sense of humility and community should rank him high within the memories of Mainers. From Wikipedia Carlos Tosca (born September 29, 1953 in Pinar del Río, Cuba)[1] is the current Field coach for the GCL Orioles. He is a former Major League and minor league baseball manager. He was the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2002 to 2004. He succeeded Buck Martinez on June 3, 2002, served the entire 2003 season, and was replaced by John Gibbons on August 8, 2004, after compiling a 191–191 win-loss record (.500). Tosca is a graduate of the University of South Florida. He did not play professional baseball, but became a coach at the high school level after his graduation. In 1978, he entered pro baseball as a coach in the Short Season-A New York–Penn League. Biography Tosca managed in the farm systems of the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves for 17 seasons between 1980 and 2001. He was the first manager in the history of the Portland Sea Dogs of the Double-A Eastern League, serving as their pilot from 1994 to 1996. He has managed at the highest level of minor league baseball with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights (1997) and Richmond Braves (2001), and was the bench coach on Buck Showalter's staff during the first three MLB seasons (1998–2000) in Arizona Diamondbacks history. Tosca was hired as third base coach of the Blue Jays for the 2002 season by the club's recently appointed general manager, J. P. Ricciardi. When Toronto started poorly (20–33, .377) under Martinez—who had been hired by former GM Gord Ash—Ricciardi replaced the incumbent manager with Tosca. Over the final two-thirds of the campaign, Tosca led the Jays to a 58–51 (.523) mark and a third-place finish in the American League East Division.[2] Tosca then produced another winning record (86–76, .531) and third-place finish in 2003.[2] But in 2004, the Jays won only 47 of their first 111 games (.423) and were in fifth place in their division when Tosca was relieved of command by Ricciardi.[2] The Jays finished the campaign at 67–94 (.416). After returning to the D-Backs in 2005–2006 to coach third base under manager Bob Melvin, Tosca was the bench coach of the Marlins under Fredi González from 2007 to June 22, 2010. When González was hired to replace Bobby Cox as the manager of the Braves following the 2010 season, Tosca was hired to serve as the Braves' new bench coach.[3] He managed the Braves on May 10 and 11, 2013 due to González' daughter's college graduation. On May 17, 2016 both Tosca and González were dismissed from the Atlanta Braves. In February 2019, Tosca was named as the Field Coach for the GCL Orioles. https://www.milb.com/portland/news/moss-tosca-to-return-to-portland-for-25th-season-celebration/c-271438306 Memories of Carlos Tosca by Jeff Seidel | Mar 20, 2017 | Blogs The Orioles recently announced they’ve hired Carlos Tosca to manage their Gulf Coast League Orioles minor league team. That won’t mean much to many people, but it did make me smile. Tosca is a typical baseball coach/manager who’s worked here, there and everywhere. However, I had an interesting interaction with him 21 years ago. In late May of 1996, I was doing a freelance story about the Portland Sea Dogs.They were playing in Bowie (then, as now, the Orioles’ Class AA minor league team), and a newspaper in Portland, Maine, wanted me to cover the series. The first night was a doubleheader. In the minor leagues, doubleheaders are seven innings, not nine, and the first game moved quickly but the second game dragged on into the 14th inning. That made my pregnant wife rather nervous. She was due to have our daughter about a week later and felt when I talked to her at the start of the 14th that she might be going into labor shortly. I had to get out of there as fast as I could. Well, the game thankfully ended that inning, but reporters are supposed to wait 10 minutes afterwards before talking to a manager. I was a bit jumpy and told the Portland media guy that I really needed to move quickly on this, due to my wife. Tosca was then the team’s manager and saw me standing in the hallway, smiled and waved me in after something like four minutes. It turned out my wife wasn’t going into labor — that came about a week later, truth be told — and the Portland paper asked me to do the series when the team returned in late August. I went in to talk with Tosca after the first game. He saw me and smiled. “How’s the baby doing,” he asked. I was floored. “How did you remember,” I asked. “Well, you were kind of nervous that night,” Tosca said, and his whole coaching staff burst out laughing. Then, he wished my daughter the best of luck. I didn’t see Tosca again until a few years ago when covering a game in Washington. He was a coach with the visiting team. When we crossed paths in a locker room hallway, I told him how much I couldn’t believe that when they came back to town in 1996, he remembered what happened. Tosca laughed and said he still remembered it and gave me a few details to prove it. He really did remember. . Then, he smiled. “You look much calmer now,” he said. Jeff Seidel is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.

“Just about everyone who’s been here (Lamoine) for any length of time, knows who Junior is, and there’s no one that doesn’t like him” - Stu Marckoon, Deputy Town Clerk, Lamoine, ME “I am a baseball player, and I play for Lamoine.” - Sylvanus “junior” tracy Sylvanus “Junior” Tracy’s life began in a very different time. There were no cell phones, no Facebook, and Isis was a goddess. Town Team baseball was in its heyday with multiple leagues encompassing many small towns. Each of these local nines had its own hero. “Junior” was one of the heroes of Lamoine. His baseball career spanned the years from 1949 to 1966. He was an organizer, pitcher, third baseman, first baseman, groundskeeper and architect for a golden era of baseball in Lamoine. However, he was more than those things. He was a member of “The Greatest Generation” from that very different time. America was at war. “Junior” answered Uncle Sam’s call, and put himself in Harm’s way. He was a real hero. In baseball today, sportscasters refer to players who play with a pulled groin as “warriors”. In baseball it is horsehide spheroids which fly by our heads. In war it is bullets. In baseball if we make an error, our ears are filled with boos. In war our ears may be filled with the cries of dying comrades. It is really not the same at all. A pulled groin is not quite the same as losing a leg, or a life. “Junior” was a real warrior. He found himself as part of the famed 167th 105 Armored Field Artillery. In an interview for The Ellsworth American, with characteristic modesty, “Junior” would say, “It was getting a little rough. When the “buzz bombs” started dropping, you just held your breath.” He has not talked much about the war. When asked in the same interview if there were moments when he wondered if he would return safely, he responded, “All the time.” In baseball a teammate who can bring smiles during slumps a losing streaks is priceless, likewise one who is true to himself and to others. It would seem those traits would be valued in war is well. “Junior” shares a story of a time when he was part of a 150 truck convoy carrying gas and ammunition to the front. Not surprisingly, the convoy caught the undivided attention of the enemy whose aircraft began strafing the convoy. “Junior” abandoned truck, or whatever you call it, and jumped into a nearby haystack. When the bombing ended, Junior says with a chuckle, “When I came out of there, there were about 50 other fellows in there with me. If they’d hit the haystack, they’d have gotten us all.” Committed, you ask? This is a fellow who never smoked and sold his ration of cigarettes so he could send the money home to his mother. It was a different time for sure. This man is a hero who earned the following medals : Sharpshooting, The WWII Victory Medal, Good Conduct, the Central Europe, Rhineland, and European Campaigns. He could throw and hit a baseball pretty well, too. After his return to Lamoine, “Junior” was looking for a sport. If you are reading this program, you are not surprised he chose baseball. In 1949 the first step in a long and golden period of baseball in Lamoine began, and “Junior was in the thick of it. The first teams were a pretty rag tag assemblage. They featured “threadbare uniforms, taped up bats and a shortage of baseballs.” (When Towns Had Teams 157) How many of us of A Certain Age from that different time cannot empathize? The Lamoine boys had more than held there own against local teams such as Ellsworth, Columbia Falls, SouthWest Harbor, Freedom, Sullivan and Blue Hill. They were perennial headliners at the Blue Hill Fair which netted them a cool one hundred bucks, which was a fortune compared to what passing the hat at home games garnered. It was a different time. And then times changed. A fellow named Gifford Cochran, an artist and painter, and his wife Fletcher, a former actress and best-selling author, moved to town. They fell in love with the spunk of the local nine. At first, they offered to buy balls and bats. Then it happened; they had a piece of land behind their summer home which they thought would make a great ball field. Gifford owned a hotel in Ellsworth and had, what is known in these times as “disposable income”. The seminal moments of what would come to be known as Tracy Field, the site of the great Lamoine tournaments had begun. “Junior” was in on the ground floor of the thing. He was a consultant, architect and groundskeeper. Work on “The Field of Dreams” began in 1959. He says, “I had been the one who had been managing the team, and I spent quite a few hours on the grounds, digging, rolling and other things that go into the building of a field.” He was also a shoe-in all star on the field at third, first, on the mound and, once in awhile, at shortstop. (When Towns Had Teams) That was how Tracy Field came to be. Not surprisingly, “Junior” says, “I didn’t care to have the field named after me, but Gif said he was going to, and if he set out to do something, he did it.” And then they came: The Yarmouth Townies, The South Portland Merchants, Mattawamkeag, Bangor/Brewer, The Quoddy League, Arlax Oils, Medford, Mass, Boston Envelope and too many more to list. As Junior says,“Players from the Boston area liked coming to Lamoine. It was like playing in a Major League park.” Barnstorming teams from up and down the East Coast played there. If you were anyone in that level of baseball, you wanted to be at Lamoine. It probably did not hurt that Gifford Cochran put them up and fed them at his Ellsworth hotel. Meal money could be pretty thin in those different times. The players came, and so did the scouts to watch them: Dick Joyce, Carleton Willey, Ed Phillips, Joe Ferris, Jack Scott, the Libbey brothers, Terry Ordway, Dick Jude, Phil Martin and too too many more to name. It will be quicker if you just read the membership roll of The Maine Baseball Hall Of Fame. And today we add “Junior” Tracy to that list. “Junior” ended his playing days at age 38 after 28 years. Lamoine never won their own tournament. They almost did once. “I wished we could have won one of the tournaments. As good a team as we had we never once won our own tournaments. We had a chance once, but I dropped a popup and we ended up losing.” (When Towns Had Teams) This is a man who understands life is a long season and that you have to show up every day ready to play. He has. It would have been a shame had “Junior” passed up baseball for the floodlights of Broadway. It seems he was part of a play written by Fletcher Cochran. It was baseball themed and performed at a local grange. “Junior” was on stage with bikini clad women, which is tough to picture. It is better to picture him at the end of his 28th season saying, “This was my last game I played at Tracy Field. I was asked to play softball for a team in Ellsworth, but that was not for me. I am a baseball player, and I play for Lamoine.” Well, yes he is, and he always will be. He is a hero for all time. He has served his teammates, his town, the game of baseball, his country, his family and God with distinction. By Joe McLaughlin, BDN Staff • July 31, 2015 Updated: July 31, 2015 6:42 pm At age 89, Sylvanus “Junior” Tracy has enjoyed several happy milestones. “I’ve married two lovely women, had a field named after me, got my stripe [in the U.S. Army] and wrote a book, ‘Downeast Baseball,’” he said. On Sunday, his induction into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Portland was added to that list of milestones, and for Tracy, that was enough. From Bangor Daily News Sylvanus R. Tracy Jr., 91 . May 8, 1926 - February 13, 2018 https://obituaries.bangordailynews.com/obituary/sylvanus-tracy-jr-1028848146 In the Post-War period, Junior distinguished himself as a semi-pro baseball player from Lamoine, and as a result of his activities, with Downeast Baseball throughout the years; was inducted into Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. Additionally, Junior captured the highlights of his 20-year baseball career by authoring and publishing his manuscript entitled "Downeast Baseball."

The late Louis S. Tripaldi, former Deering High coach and athlete, was instrumental in Babe Ruth League baseball. Tripaldi — who died at age 29 in October of 1979 after a long bout with Hodgkins Disease, commuted daily while at Bowdoin College to help reorganize Portland Babe Ruth. He formed al] new teams, equipped them all and set up a field scheduling system. In addition, he created the senior division. He also managed three Babe Ruth league championship teams himself, as well as three BRL all Star teams. He won two BRL state titles, was the Babe Ruth district 2 commissioner and the assistant state commissioner for the 13-15 division. At Deering High, he captained the varsity baseball team for two years and was a member of the football team three years. He played football and hockey at both North Yarmouth Academy and Bowdoin College. Upon graduation, he taught in the Wiscasset system before coming back to Portland and Jack Junior High School. At Jack Jr., he coached baseball and basketball and taught social studies. He led the school to its first ever city baseball championship. He switched to guidance counseling and Deering High School in 1974 where he was assistant football coach. In 1978, he realized a life-long dream when he was named Deering’s head baseball coach.