Art Martone has died

TDFenway

TDFenway

New Member
Aug 21, 2016
53
One story Art loved to tell.

He wasn't old enough to see Ted Williams play but as a teenager, he saw Ted in a home run hitting contest when he was the manager of Washington/Texas.

In the early '70s, the double knit uniforms were not kind to Ted's beer belly and Art recalled he felt he would be disillusioned by seeing Williams that way, and then Ted entered the batter's box.

The 'swing' was still there.

A few years ago I found an audio clip and sent it to him

View: https://soundcloud.com/tsj56/whdh-radio-sox-intro-pre-1966


He replied back minutes later that he was singing along and remembered every word except he knew the Ken Coleman version better.

The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry was intense in Rhode Island as the Yankees had many fans there and he told me Game 7 in 2003 was his lowest point as a fan and he used to vent not on SoSh but on nyyfans - He had the headline all ready to go ( Move Over Babe ) and it was gut-wrenching for him to blow it up. Then came the non-stop off-season before 2004. He wasn't happy when WEEI entered the Providence market in 2004 because he knew it would kill local Providence station WSKO which indeed happened.

Losing his institutional memory is a loss for all Red Sox fans.
 
jacklamabe65

jacklamabe65

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2001
7,243
East of the sun; west of the moon
TDFenway said:
One story Art loved to tell.

He wasn't old enough to see Ted Williams play but as a teenager, he saw Ted in a home run hitting contest when he was the manager of Washington/Texas.

In the early '70s, the double knit uniforms were not kind to Ted's beer belly and Art recalled he felt he would be disillusioned by seeing Williams that way, and then Ted entered the batter's box.

The 'swing' was still there.

A few years ago I found an audio clip and sent it to him

View: https://soundcloud.com/tsj56/whdh-radio-sox-intro-pre-1966


He replied back minutes later that he was singing along and remembered every word except he knew the Ken Coleman version better.

The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry was intense in Rhode Island as the Yankees had many fans there and he told me Game 7 in 2003 was his lowest point as a fan and he used to vent not on SoSh but on nyyfans - He had the headline all ready to go ( Move Over Babe ) and it was gut-wrenching for him to blow it up. Then came the non-stop off-season before 2004. He wasn't happy when WEEI entered the Providence market in 2004 because he knew it would kill local Providence station WSKO which indeed happened.

Losing his institutional memory is a loss for all Red Sox fans.
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OMG! That clip of the old Red Sox intro (I included it from memory in my SoSH remembrance on Tony C.) was the equivalent to hearing my parent's voices once again. I had a similar experience when I discovered on YouTube a recording of John Kiley playing "Paree," the longtime Bruins entrance theme Kiley used to play when they stepped onto the ice of the old Gahden. I immediately sent it to Art who responded immediately with great glee that he just played it loudly at his desk at Projo and about seven middle-aged men and women instantly broke into broad smiles. I also sent it to Stiffy who said that he played it about ten times and was in a full grin for hours. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1GJOq2mP-s&t=17s
 
BoSoxLady

BoSoxLady

Rules Red Sox Nation with an Iron Fist
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Apr 24, 2003
3,449
I can’t count the number of times I’ve cried since MikeF’s wife informed me that he suffered a stroke while recuperating from a minor heart procedure. That was on February 4th. He passed on the 8th, the same day as Art.

Mr Cheri and I attended the Boston Baseball Writers Dinner for many years. I had a friend in the media who annually invited us to the post-dinner party. Pretty much every local baseball writer was in attendance as well as the award recipients from the dinner. Don’t ever ask Mr Cheri about the year Carlton Fisk was in that room.

I was introduced to Art by Nick Cafardo who was the Red Sox beat writer for my local newspaper, The Quincy Patriot Ledger. I developed a friendship with Nick when spring training was located in Winter Haven. We spent many nights shooting the shit at the hotel tiki bar while Mr Cheri was watching March Madness. Another devastating loss was when Nick passed during spring training 3 years ago.

I corresponded with Art many times over the years and I was honored when he friended me on Facebook.

He was one of us. He was always true to himself and never went for clicks. He never became bitter, unlike many of today’s media.

So many good people have been taken from us.
 
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