For Success: Lots of Scoring!

And who knows better than the sachem of the mighty Seminoles, Mike Martin?

COACH: How old were you when you started playing baseball?

MARTIN: I started playing on an organized level, meaning Little League, when I was seven in Charlotte, NC. The one vivid memory I have is missing a ground ball in left field in the first inning and being taken out of the game. I remember my dad being very upset about it and wanting me to quit. But I would never quit. But I would never quit. I remember all that like it was yesterday.

COACH: Your dad introduced you to baseball?

MARTIN: Daddy and I would go out in the backyard and play catch, and I soon graduated to pickup games. There was always a pickup game.

When I was real young, I played on as many as three teams in the summer-Little League, what they called the Royal Ambassador league, and then the parks. So I was constantly playing baseball.

COACH: What was your main position?

MARTIN: Mostly short and second. I actually could play any position on the field and I pitched in Little League.

COACH: Did you play baseball at Garinger High School?

MARTIN: Yes, I played shortstop most of the time, but I was moved to centerfield near the end of my senior year.

COACH: Did you play any other sports?

MARTIN: Coming from Charlotte, NC, I had to play basketball, and I also played football my senior year of high school. I was the backup quarterback. Though I was a recruitable athlete in basketball, I doubted whether I could play on the Division I level.

COACH: How serious were you about baseball in high school?

MARTIN: Major league baseball has always been my goal... I should say, was always my goal.

COACH: Don't quit, Mike! You still might make it.

MARTIN: Ha! Me and Satchel Paige. I followed the game very closely as a Dodger fan. I played basketball and baseball at a high level in high school and then at a junior college called Wingate.

COACH: Who was your favorite Dodger?

MARTIN: Pee Wee Reese. I could always name the lineup and rotation. Reading The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn brought tears to my eyes.

COACH: What do you remember from your three years of professional ball in the Tiger and Met organizations?

MARTIN: I roomed with Nolan Ryan one weekend in the minor leagues.

COACH: What did you think of him?

MARTIN: He was a down-to-earth country boy, just as he is today. He taught me that a true athlete is constantly taking care of the body God gave him. Ryan never abused his body and I guarantee you that he could still go out and pitch for somebody at age 53 because he is always taking care of himself.

COACH: Did you use Wingate as a stepping stone to Florida State?

MARTIN: To be honest, I went to Wingate on a small basketball scholarship, but I wanted to play baseball for the coach, Ron Christopher. I got off to a very good start as a centerfielder and he promoted me for All-American, which I made in both my freshman and sophomore years.

We went to the Junior College World Series my second year and it was at that time that Fred Hatfield, the baseball coach at Florida State, learned about me from a scout.

Florida State had a basketball manager named Morris McHone, with whom I had played junior college basketball, and he also had good things to say about me to Hatfield. That is how I got to Florida State.

I was married on June 28, 1964 and I arrived at Florida State two months later. We've been here ever since.

COACH: What was your thinking as an athlete? Were you definitely committed to a playing career or did your realize your future lay in coaching?

MARTIN: I was a pretty good player and I probably had some expectation, about a major league career, but when I got into professional baseball I saw how many people were better than me. I knew it was going to be difficult to male the major leagues. I had been drafted in the 18th round by the Mets, and upon my release from Detroit I was fortunate to get my old job back as a teacher/basketball coach at Godby High School in Tallahassee, FL.

COACH: What led Woody Woodward to offer you the assistant coaching job at Florida State in 1974?

MARTIN: We were friends and classmates at Florida State before he went off to play major league baseball.

One night we were just cutting up on the phone and I said, "Well, if you go to Florida State as the baseball coach I'll go with you."

And he said, "Would you really go?"

At the time I had been the head basketball coach at Godby High School for three years. I had two children and was just kind of making ends meet. Florida State had no assistant coach on a full-time level. By saying, "I would go with you," meant that I would go for $2,000.

In fact, in my first three years at Florida State I made $2,000, $2,500, and $3,000. I think that is what surprised Woody.

COACH: After Woodward left Florida State, you worked as an assistant under Dick Howser for one year until he left to manage the Yankees. What did you learn from these two fine coaches?

MARTIN: From Woody, organization. From Dick, patience.

COACH: Your career at FSU has been legendary. Before you took over in 1979, FSU had made it to the College World Series three times in 15 years. You've made the NCAA tournament every year you have been coaching and made it to the World Series 11 times in 14 years. To what do you attribute such phenomenal success?

MARTIN: Well, I just believe that if you work hard and surround yourself with good people and put your faith in God, good things are going to happen.

We work hard here at Florida State. I've had outstanding coaches from the early days with Jim Morris, to the middle years with Rod Delmonico, and now I have Jamey Shouppe, Chip Baker, and my son, Mike Martin, Jr.

I'd say my son has the best record of all the coaches. He's been here six years, three as a player and three as a coach and he's been to the College World Series five times!

All of us know our roles, understand each other, and are compatible. Shouppe does a great job of recruiting and Chip does a great job of organizing certain areas of the program. It's a very good staff.

COACH: You are famous for all the fire and drive you put into your coaching. How much of a disciplinarian are you?

MARTIN: I guess that depends on whom you talk to, but discipline is extremely important in all phases of life: on how you impart it to others and how you discipline yourself.

One of the first things we teach is that they are going to have to work hard every day to get better because the great programs all over the country are doing the same thing.

The day that we slack off is the day that we're going to get run over, passed by, because all of our opponents will be working harder than we are.

COACH: What facets of the game do you focus on? Hitting? Pitching? Defense?

MARTIN: We've always been a pitching and defense club. However, the game has changed. With the advent of strength programs and the fact that one swing of the bat can produce three runs we have been putting more emphasis on hitting.

COACH: How do you feel about the aluminum bat? Do you feel that the bat has been put more in line with the wood bat?

MARTIN: I believe that the bat we have right now is very good for college baseball. How much different it is from the old bat, I can't really say. I have had no problem with either bat.

I've always said if we want to do something about the profuse scoring, we might look at the baseball, not the bat. Look at the balls flying Out of parks! Anyway, I'm a firm believer in what we have in place today and I hope we just leave it alone.

COACH: Do you believe the quality of our young players is improving?

MARTIN: What really is improving is the work ethics of our coaches. It has improved dramatically over the last 10 years and our players are better as a result.

The players coming out of high school are only as good as the coaching they have been getting. I can't sit here and say that the players are better. I've got to give credit to the guys who are driving the players.

COACH: To what do you attribute all of that awesome offensive power in major league baseball?

MARTIN: I think the ball is definitely livelier and the players are much stronger because of all the great strength programs being implemented all over the major league scene. The players are also taking much better care of themselves both in season and the offseason.

COACH: Would you care to comment on the greatest contradiction in major league baseball: That in an era in which pitching has become a strategic art form with starters, short relief, long relief, set-up men, and closers, the earned-run averages keep soaring and we are seeing more hits and home runs than ever?

MARTIN: It isn't really a contradiction. The hitting and scoring is simply awesome and is bringing a lot of people out to the ballparks. They love the home runs and the scoring.

There are not as many baseball purists today. And the NBA ought to take heed. It will cease growing in popularity if scoring continues to decline. People aren't interested in seeing great defensive games. People are interested in seeing the ball go through the net.

From the coaching standpoint, we are doing everything we can to keep the other team from scoring. But if we can win 8-7 or 11-8, it's going to make everybody even happier -- except the other team. It's just the way it is these days.

Some of the greatest games I've ever coached have been high scoring affairs with the lead going back and forth. If, for example, I had the bases loaded in the eighth and then in the ninth with nobody out and got beat, 1-0, who is going to remember how we loaded the bases twice or how the other guys did such a great job of getting us out at the right time? If, however, the score was 11-9, as it was then we played Stanford in the College World Series, nobody would forget the drama.

We took a 7-0 lead, they came back and tied it up, and then we went ahead 9-7. It was back and forth, with the spectators on the edge of their seats.

People all over the country had their TV's tuned to it because players were hitting home runs and scoring at so many dramatic moments. You ask anyone to name the best ball game they ever saw in the College World Series and I guarantee that six out of 10 will say the Florida State-Stanford game.

COACH: So, you don't think all of the scoring is bad for baseball?

MARTIN: I honestly do not. I cannot tell you I'd rather have low-scoring games. We've got to look at the college game and realize that we're a good commodity and we don't want to do anything that might diminish its popularity.

Martin's Milestones

1. Has made the NCAA tournament every year.

2. Has made the College World Series 11 times.

3. Won 50 or more games 12 years in a row and 18 times in 20 years.

4. Won 1000 games in just 13 seasons, only the second coach in history to do it that quickly.

5. Total record of 1079-364-3 and .747 winning percentage ranks No. 2 among active Division I coaches and No. 9 all-time.

6. Won the ACC championship in 1999 with the best season mark (22-2) in conference history.

7. Has produced 38 All-Americans, 72 All-Conference players, and 88 players who signed professional contracts.