Florida State's Mike Martin, the all-time winningest coach in college baseball history, was honored with the prestigious ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award at the 80th annual ABCA Convention in Dallas, Texas.
Named after the great Lefty Gomez, this annual award is presented to an individual who has contributed significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally and internationally. Presented by Wilson Sporting Goods, the Lefty Gomez Award presentation takes place each year during the Hall of Fame Banquet at the ABCA Convention.
Martin’s legendary coaching career began in 1980 when he became the head baseball coach at Florida State after having served as an assistant for the Seminoles for five seasons. Over the next 40 years, his teams would make 17 College World Series appearances while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in each of his 40 seasons.
Inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2007, Martin called it a career following the 2019 season, retiring as the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach in any sport with a record 2,029 career victories. The 13-time conference Coach of the Year led the Seminoles to 11 Metro Conference titles and nine ACC titles, while producing eight National Players of the Year and four Golden Spikes Award winners.
Off the field, Martin’s student-athletes were selected to the academic team of distinction 72 times since its 2006 inception, while leading the ACC six times in 13 years. Three of Martin’s players earned ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors on five occasions, while his teams were twice honored with the ACC Sportsmanship Award.
In addition to his work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and in the Tallahassee community, the 47-year Lifetime ABCA Member has been a featured clinician at several ABCA Conventions.
In 2019, Martin was honored with induction into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 2020, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named its National Coach of the Year Award in his honor.
Founded in 1945, the American Baseball Coaches Association is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 15,000 members represent all 50 states and 41 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association members have broadened to include nine divisions: NCAA Division I, II, and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School, Youth and Travel.