Maine Baseball Hall of Fame elects 10 new members

Merrill “Red” Wilson of Holden, a former college standout and coach, is among 10 people who will be inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame later this year.

The new members will be honored at the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony and banquet scheduled for July 18 at 11:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn By the Bay on Spring Street in Portland.

The Class of 2004 also includes eastern Maine standouts Al McNeilly of Owls Head, Herbert Libby of Mattawamkeag, Howard McFadden of Dennysville and the late Jerry McConnell.

Other inductees are Al Davis of Livermore Falls, Adrien “Drig” Fournier of Lewiston, Bill Harris and Hank Richards of South Portland and Gene McClure of Falmouth.

Tickets to the banquet and ceremonies can be obtained by calling Sonny Noel at 428-3678.

Wilson was a two-time All-Yankee Conference selection (1951 and ’52) at the University of Maine. He managed 14 seasons in the prestigious Cape Cod Collegiate Baseball League and also did a stint at Husson College in Bangor, where he is a member of that school’s coaches hall of fame.

McNeilly pitched for the University of Maine in the 1940s and later played semi-pro ball for the St. Johnsbury Yankees in the Northern League.

Libby was a 23-year performer with the semi-pro Mattawamkeag Merchants. He also guided the Mattawamkeag Little League team to five Northern Penobscot League championships.

McFadden competed for several Washington County semi-pro teams, including the Dixie (Lubec) Eagles and the Cutler Cardinals. He now serves as the high school umpires assignor for Washington County.

McConnell was an umpire in the Down East League, the New England League for the Portland Pilots and the Telegram League.

Davis pitched for several semi-pro teams in Central Maine during the 1940s and ’50s. He played for the Livermore Falls Tri-Towners in the Timber League and the Wilton Loggers in the Andy County League.

Fournier helped lead the Chi-Liv Townies to a berth in the national amateur baseball tournament in 1962 and later served as a board umpire for 28 years.

Harris was involved with South Portland National Little League for more than 40 years, serving as a scorer, coach, director and umpire. He won the Kenneth M. Sills Little League Manager of the Year Award in 1985.

McClure played on the Suburban Little League All-Star team that competed in the Little League World Series in 1951. He was an All-Telegram League pick for Westbrook High in 1956 and won the Sills Award in 1982.

Richards, who now lives in Florida, played baseball and football at UMaine and the University of Delaware. He was an assistant baseball coach at Deering High in Portland for five years under Freddy Harlow and directed the Rams’ football team for eight seasons.