ORONO, Maine -- Shadowing Bill Livesey as he went about his business as one of the best and most highly regarded scouts in professional baseball was both entertaining and educational.

Listen as he turns his insights into a stream of keen observations, mixing history and humor, opinion and off-hand jabs, all the while taking in all that he sees.

Watch as he watches players warming up down the right-field line before a game or a workout. What is he looking for? During warmups?

"I'm looking to see where they catch the ball," he says, in the palm, in the web, where in the palm, where in the web. "I want to see them catch it in the same place every time, see how good their eye-hand coordination is."

Such attention to detail, and success with the New York Yankees in scouting and player development, led to Livesey's receiving the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in 2012.

So how did a kid who grew up in Brewster, Massachusetts, who went to Orleans High School where he played soccer, basketball and baseball, captained all three, and who entered the University of Maine in the fall of 1958, end up being proclaimed one of the most outstanding talent evaluators among the thousands of scouts hanging around ball fields over the years?

Livesey played basketball his first two years at Maine, but baseball was his sport. Primarily an outfielder, he was first-team All-Yankee Conference two years and batted .352 as a senior and captain for Coach Jack Butterfield. As a junior, when Butterfield was in a pinch for pitcher, Livesey volunteered that he had pitched in high school and the Cape Cod League. He went 2-1 the rest of the season and 3-3 as a senior. In another emergency, he told Butterfield he could catch.

After his final game as a senior, when Butterfield asked him what he wanted to do, and he said teach and coach, Butterfield told him that if he ever had a chance to hire a coach, Livesey would be the guy.

After four years teaching and coaching at Worcester Academy, Livesey returned to Orono as assistant to Butterfield and freshman baseball coach, as well as varsity soccer coach.

Meanwhile, he was starting a managing career in the Cape Cod League that led to a record six championships in 10 seasons and induction into that league's hall of fame.

After two years back at Maine, Livesey left for Brown University for three years as varsity baseball coach and then Eckerd College, where he established a Division II dynasty, qualifying for the NCAA tournament six straight years and finishing second in the country in '77.

Then, Butterfield called again. Now the Yankees' vice president of player development, Butterfield hired Livesey first as a scout to get his feet wet, then to manage the 1979 Paintsville, New York, farm team, which went 52-13 for a professional record .800 percentage that stood for decades.

Following Butterfield's untimely death in 1979, Livesey moved into scouting and player development, serving at various times as the national cross checker of the top amateur players eligible for the draft, as director of the minor league system, and as both at once. He remained with the Yankees through 1995, then worked for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates.  Also, again with the Yankees in 2008-09.

Most prominent of Livesey's accomplishments was being in charge of the drafting and development of the famous Core Four +1 of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte, plus Bernie Williams, who played on some or all of five World Champion Yankee teams.

While former general manager Gene Michael is generally recognized as the architect of those teams, current GM Brian Cashman, introducing Livesey at the ceremony honoring him with the Genovese award, said, "But, there's an architect behind the architect, and that's Bill Livesey."

The University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame will induct a 10-member class to the 195-member hall at a ceremony held on Friday, Oct. 5 at the Black Bear Inn and Conference Center. For a full list of this year's inductees, please click HERE.

-UMaine-