Maine Baseball Hall of Fame announces 2023 inductees

Apr. 30—The Maine Baseball Hall of Fame has announced its 2023 inductees, who will be honored at a banquet at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland on Oct. 15. The inductees are:

— Bill Burke and Sally McNamara, co-owners of the Portland Sea Dogs from 2011-22, building on their father Dan Burke's success in creating one of minor league baseball's model franchises. Upon the sale of the team to Diamond Baseball Holdings in early 2023, the siblings shared profits from the sale to all full-time employees.

— Mike Connolly is now in his 23rd season as head coach at Bowdoin College. With his 400th career victory last year, he is the all-time wins leader in Bowdoin baseball history.

— Phil Curtis of Old Orchard Beach was a second-team State Series All-Star selection while playing at the University of Maine in 1960 and went on to coach for 13 years at Thornton Academy, where he became the winningest baseball coach in school history.

— Richard Flaherty of Scarborough was an elite pitcher for St. Joseph's College in the 1980s, helping lead the Monks to their first NAIA New England Regional Championship in 1986. In 2000, he was elected as a charter member of the St. Joseph's College Athletic Hall of Fame.

— Dennis Kiah of Brewer devoted more than 40 years to a teaching, coaching and administration, primarily at Brewer High. In 2021, he was inducted into the Maine Principals' Association Hall of Excellence.

— Dickie Norton of Addison was a pitcher and slugging outfielder for the Jonesboro Jets and Machias Bruins in the Downeast Quoddy League from 1958-80 during the heyday of the town-team era of baseball in Maine.

— Bill Patterson of Dexter is in his 50th year as a member of the Eastern Maine Baseball Umpires Association and has worked over 1,500 high school baseball games. He is a member of the Collegiate Baseball Umpires Association of Maine.

— Arlo Pike, Jr. of Buxton was a cornerstone of St. Joseph College's emergence as a small-college baseball power in the 1980s. He was a three-time All-NAIA District 5 pick, and in 1986 he hit .408, a Monks' single-season record for which he earned All-American honors.

— Mike Puiia, a graduate of Stephens High in Rumford, was a first-rate center fielder for the South Portland Merchants and Intown Portland Associates in the Portland Twilight League during the 1970s.

— George Ross of Waldo was the baseball coach at Belfast Area High for 37 years, winning two KVAC championships and earning Coach of the Year honors five times. He was a NCAA Division II second-team All-America pitching for Springfield College in 1975.