The Power of a Moment

Paying tribute to legendary college baseball coach Mike Martin.

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

When I heard that Mike Martin, the legendary Florida State baseball coach, passed into eternity earlier this month, my mind raced back to a conversation I had with him 14 years ago.

But first, I need to set the scene. The Hall of Fame Room at Rosenblatt Stadium (home of the College World Series from 1950-2010) in Omaha, Nebraska, hosted post-game press conferences.

Getting to that room was a chore. Reporters had to race from the press box down a gazillion steps (you couldn’t wait for the elevator, which had been affectionately called the slowest elevator on earth) and through the throngs of exiting fans. You had to be a salmon, and I don’t really have a salmon body, so I often arrived late (by the way, I was a sportswriter back in the day, but if you aren’t a sports fan, stick around; this is really about more than sports).

The Hall of Fame Room was packed on the day Florida State had been eliminated from the tournament in 2010 by TCU. Martin fielded questions about the game from the press as only he could – with class and grace. As he stepped down, then made his way toward the back of the room on his way to the locker room, I pulled him aside because I wanted to hear more from him – something reflective, especially since it was the final season for Rosenblatt Stadium and everybody was feeling sentimental.

He probably told me a story he’d told a hundred other reporters but let’s pretend that isn’t true. Here’s what he said:

I could listen to him talk for hours. Something about the cadence in his voice was mesmerizing. Once you can get past that, there are two takeaways from what he told me that day.

The first one speaks to having the right priorities. As you just heard, Martin stepped away from coaching during that game for a minute while his son (Mike Martin Jr., who played for his dad at FSU from 1993-95) was at the plate. 

To put Martin’s answer into perspective, he coached at FSU for 40 years. He’s the winningest coach in college baseball history (with a 2,029-736-4 record). He took FSU to the NCAA Tournament 40 times, had 40 winning seasons and took his team to the College World Series 17 times. He’s a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the North Carolina (his home state) Sports Hall of Fame (2018). And there’s more, but I won’t list them all. 

The point is, when I asked him about his best baseball memories, he didn’t mention any of those accolades I listed. He reverted to watching his son playing baseball. Seems like such a simple thing, but he could’ve gotten caught up in the moment and missed it. But he didn’t. He found a way to be present. There’s a life lesson for all of us in that.

The second takeaway is about the importance of appreciating someone who does the right thing. The story he told about his former player, Buster Posey, taking a walk in his final at bat for FSU rather than trying to be a hero is gold. By taking the walk, he put his team ahead of himself. A situation like that is bound to be forgotten by most fans, but Martin never forgot. I bet his teammates haven’t either.

Martin was married 59 years, had three children and four grandchildren. Something tells me that his family, his players and the opportunities he had to tell other athletes about Christ through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes meant more to him than anything else. That feels like a well-lived life.