Years later, we remember why we still care

Just above the wall in right-center field at VA Memorial Stadium sits a reminder.

A fiery young man, taken far too young. A tragic moment in Chillicothe Paints history.

A small sign – its green and yellow paint weathered by time, its white façade dinged and dented by baseballs on their way over the fence – bearing only the number 29.

Longtime Paints fans know its story. Younger fans, possibly not.

To members of the Paints’ family who remember hearing the devastating news on that cool July night, it’s shocking that 17 years have passed since Steve Martin’s death.

A former Frontier League All-Star outfielder with the Evansville Otters, Martin came to Chillicothe in a trade the year before as the Paints loaded their roster with talent for a hopeful run at the league championship. As the 2006 season progressed, however, Martin’s role on the team began to shrink as he struggled at the plate.

In a half season with the Paints the previous year, Martin batted .376. Over a month into the 2006 season, his average stood at .209.

On July 5, Martin received the difficult news that he would be released from the team. Knowing it would likely be his last night in Chillicothe, Martin went out for farewell drinks with his friends. On the way home, his vehicle went off the road on a curve near Frankfort.

Martin was pronounced dead at 2:31 a.m. on Thursday, July 6, 2006.

Steve’s parents, Rick and Cherry Martin, had no ties to Chillicothe other than baseball.

“We used to stay at the campground out there. Sometimes we’d pull in for weeks at a time when they’d have a homestand,” Rick Martin said, sitting down to lunch at The Dock at Water on a weekday afternoon in March. “We’d shuffle back and forth between my mother’s place in Kentucky and (Chillicothe). We just felt comfortable here.”

For several years following Steve’s death, they returned to Ross County in the summers to attend the youth baseball camp at VA Memorial that still bears their son’s name.

“We had fond feelings about Chillicothe,” Cherry Martin said. “There’s a little edge to that fond feeling … I always do come away with a little stab. But that being said, from the very beginning we felt the draw to come back. It was the brave thing to come back.”

Friends questioned the Martins as to why they would still visit a place with such a tragic history for their family.

“There’s always a moment that’s hard, but I still feel like this was a place that was important to him,” Cherry said. "He was in his glory here. He enjoyed the team and the people around the team."

Going back to the early days of the Chillicothe Paints, Ron Adkins has been one of the team’s biggest supporters. Adkins did not know Steve Martin well, but considered himself an admirer of the fiery and outgoing outfielder during his time with the Paints.

Earlier this year, Adkins posted a memory about Steve on Facebook and eventually that post reached the Martins through one of their friends in Tennessee.

Cherry Martin found Ron’s profile and added him as a friend, thinking that would be one more small connection to things in Chillicothe. But what she and her husband didn’t expect was that Adkins was looking to find homes for some puppies.

“Rick had a dog that he got after Steve passed. Rick really suffered. We suffered from losing Steve. It was very tough. Rick, that was his only saving grace, that he had this dog,” Cherry said, noting that their dog had passed just a few years ago. “At some point, we were watching TV and we saw these little Aussies and Blue Healers as herding animals and thought they were so cute. Then we saw Ron’s post.”

One pup, in particular, was the one that captured their hearts.

The Martins reached out to Adkins and asked if she was available.

Adkins was thrilled at the thought of them adopting the puppy, and they agreed that in a few weeks when the dog was ready, the Martins would once again visit Chillicothe to retrieve their puppy – and her name would be Paint.

“We named her after the Paints. Steve would get a kick out of that,” Cherry said.

Adkins updated them with pictures of the dog over the following weeks and at one point, added in pictures from the stadium.

“I went out and took some pics of the 29 sign in right field and sent them to her with the puppy pics she wanted,” Adkins said. “She was very happy to see (the sign). She was afraid he’ll be forgotten.”

The Martins, who now live in Maine, passed through Chillicothe on March 10 to pick up Paint.

Like they generally do, they discussed driving by the difficult locations.

“The stadium sometimes,” Cherry said. “We usually go by where the accident was. That sounds bizarre to a lot of people, but we go out there.”

“We put a cross there,” Rick added. “There was something new the last time we came. There’s a gas pipeline or something there. I think they cleared (the area out) and the cross was laid down. But they were going to pick it up and refurbish it and put it back.”

So many years later, sharing memories of their son inspires more laughter that tears for the Martins.

“If you remember him at all, you remember he was a ball of fire. And you wanted to be in the presence of that fire,” Cherry said. “He was the center of our family. Not because he was more important, but just because he would light a room on fire. And everybody felt it. Everybody in the family felt it. Those are good moments to remember.”

Although so many years have passed, the Martins said that people often reach out to share memories of their son.

“So amazing that I still get messages. As much as he’s still in our lives and our kids lives, it still comes up so often. His death and his life. Mostly his life,” Cherry said. “I still get random messages from people he went to high school with or played with. I still get messages from (Evansville teammates). Or his good friends in high school. Just sharing a little story. I just feel like that’s a little gift. Steve would love to be in somebody else’s story … because they were in his story.”

As spring turned into summer, baseball isn’t a part of the Martins lift the way it once was.

“Other than Chillicothe, I don’t think I’ve been to a live baseball game,” Rick said. “I watch major leagues and I watch (Louisiana State University) baseball. That’s where I graduated.”

But they still think fondly of the years where the sport meant so much. And the little town in Southern Ohio where they watched the game so often.

“We have always said what a wonderful thing to have in your town,” Cherry said of Chillicothe. “A ball team where everyone comes and just enjoys it. It’s their summer. Night after night of just enjoying something.”

They added that when Steve’s release from the Paints happened, he understood and agreed with the tough decision that then-Paints manager Glenn Wilson had to make.

“I firmly believe things are going to happen the way they are meant to happen. As much as you want to take control …” Cherry said, pausing. “And maybe he just burnt so bright, he just burnt out.”

Cranmer was a sportswriter for the Chillicothe Gazette in 2006 and covered the Paints that season alongside the late Phil Gray. He adopted a kitten just days after Martin’s passing that he named Steve.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Steve Martin is still remembered by the Paints and their fans