Elliott: R. I. P. Martha Cisco

Galen Cisco, pitching coach of the 1992-93 Blue Jays watches RHP Pat Hentgen throw a bullpen ..

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

In my years covering the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays I probably knew about four or five wives of players.

Wives of coaches? Maybe double that.

Martha Cisco was one in a million, who owned a contagious smile and an infectious laugh. Martha was a woman who knew how to brighten every one’s day.

Martha was married to former Expos and Jays pitching coach Galen Cisco. We’d been for dinner a few times during spring training with Galen and her. Once when grandson Mike was a farmhand with the Philadelphia Phillies he joined us at B T Bone’s in Clearwater.

Every day that I ever spoke to Martha she was upbeat and happy. Once in the parking lot I saw Galen get out of a large car and complimented him on his ride. He replied “Oh it’s Martha’s ... she only allows me to drive it some days.”

So, they would drive “Martha’s car” from St. Mary’s Ohio -- home of the Galen Cisco Little League -- to spring training whether it was to see her husband work with pitchers in the bullpen, or bite her nails as the grandsons pitched on a back field.

You probably know a lot about Galen. He was a fullback for Robert McCown’s team -- the Ohio State Buckeyes, Rose Bowl champs and 1958 national champs. Don Sutherin who went on to fame playing for the Hamilton Ti-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Argos as well as coaching with Ottawa, Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton was on that Buckeye roster too.

That line about a good woman being behind every great man that you have heard so often ... well Martha often stood alongside and sometimes ahead of Galen, often in Saint Martha fashion.

* * *

One night after dissecting an Expo game I asked manager Dick Williams what he did for fun during playing for the Boston Red Sox if they had a rain out.

“Should we tell him about the bath tub?” Williams asked.

So, here I am some young, dumb buck ready to hear a story about ... maybe filling bathtubs with champagne.

“Well,” Williams began, “the place where the four of us were staying had a marble floor in the bath tub, so we would hit a golf ball into the room, listen to it clank around and put a stop watch on it to see who could keep in making noise the longest.

“The secret was to get the ball into the old tub which sat on legs, because it would clank around from side to side real good ... that’s what Arnold Early, Russ Nixon, Galen Cisco and I did when it rained.”

* * *

In the spring of 1992, the Colorado Rockies had yet to field a team. They had a staff in place and had scouts scouring the other teams looking for players who might be left off the protected list.

Larry Bearnarth, another stately ball man in the class of Cisco, Nixon and Williams, had been hired by the Rockies as their pitching coach for the 1993 season. Yet, he would spend 1992 scouting and so it happened one day that he and Cisco were both at Grant Field in Dunedin.

I sat and watched both the Detroit Tigers and the Jays take infield never saying a word as Bearnarth took notes. Then, we spoke about the old days, some of his favourite Expo arms.

All of a sudden Bearnarth started laughing, his shoulders rocking up and down as if someone had just told a 10th straight knee slapper.

Finally, I asked, “What’s so funny?”

Bearnarth said he had seen Cisco about an hour ago before the game.

“I asked who was starting for Toronto? Galen said ‘We’re going with this young guy, take a good look at him ... I’ve been working on this splitter with him. I’m not sure if he’s got it. I’d appreciate your opinion.”

Walking out to the mound for the Blue Jays that day was eventual Hall of Famer Jack Morris, 37.

Some kid.

Some resume ... 3,289 1/3 innings on his way to a 21-win season.

When we’d go out for diner Martha would laugh at that one because she loved her husband and respected Bearnarth’s hard work.

We think it was Martha who arranged for me to be invited to be invited to dinner with Jamie and Bob Bailor, the former Toronto coach, along with Martha and Galen.

My question was ... how angry was Bailor with the Blue Jays? He had been let go in 1995 and had not returned for an alumni day or an autograph session despite being asked.

Bailor’s answer was “I didn’t like signing autographs and making personal appearances as a player or a coach, why would I give up a weekend of hunting and fishing to shake hands?”

* * *

One night before a game at SkyDome, I spotted Harvey Trivett, president of the Blue Jays fan club, sitting in the front row.

Galen came out of the dugout, I called him over and said “Galen I want you to meet Harvey, there is no bigger fan of the Jays.”

Galen said, “Nice to see you again Harvey ... you haven’t changed much since I met when I pitched here in 1966-67 for the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

What a dope I was. Mr. Big Time introduces Harvey to someone he has known for 25 years.

Cisco pitched parts of nine seasons in the minors and parts of seven in the majors with the Red Sox, New York Mets and Royals. He spent 28 seasons as a pitching coach

He was with the Royals from 1971–1979 serving under managers Bob Lemon, Jack McKeon and Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog. With the Expos he served five years under Hall of Famer Dick Williams and Jim Fanning. Next was three seasons working for the San Diego Padres and managers Williams, Steve Boros and Larry Bowa.

Taking over for Al Widmar in 1990, Cisco worked for the Toronto Blue Jays and manager Cito Gaston. And finally, he served four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies for manager Terry Francona.

And Martha was with him in two different countries and packing to move time zones.

* * *

The last time I saw Martha was at the Canadian Hall of Fame induction ceremonies when Tom Henke was inducted in 2011. Martha was with her dear friend Betsy Sullivan, wife of bullpen coach John Sullivan, who introduced inductee Tom Henke.

Martha was always smiling. Always upbeat and this was despite the fact she was married to man whose nickname was “Grump” or on some days “Grumpy.”

Martha underwent chemo and was not terribly ill until near the end, but she was also battling pulmonary fibrosis as well. Doctors said that they could not cure the cancer, only slow it down.

Cisco said he heard from former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston, fellow coaches, Gene Tenace, Sullivan and Bailor. As well, Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog -- a close friend from their days with the Kansas City Royals -- from his San Diego days Jack McKeon and Harry Dunlop and former Byckeye teammate Sutherin and broadcaster Dave Van Horne, former Montreal Expos broadcaster.

Also former Royals’ coach Hal McRae, Wally Post’s family and the heavenly combo of Saint Shirley Cheek and Saint Mary Howarth, wives of Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth, former Blue Jays broadcasters.

He said there were a stack of cards and letters about “seven or right inches high.” They are too difficult to read.

Grandson Mike Cisco pitched six seasons in the minors, one in the Los Angeles system, the rest with the Philadelphia Phillies. Mike and Jays slugger Justin Smoak were teammates with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks and hunt together.

Grandson Drew Cisco pitched five seasons, three in the Cincinnati Reds’ system and one with the Ottawa Champions.

With the Cisco children and grandchildren spread across the country the family has decided to have a memorial service for Martha on Dec. 5 in St. Mary’s, Ohio.

Deepest sympathies to the Cisco family.

Saint Martha was one in a million.