Eckerd College Athletics

When Bill Livesey took the reins of Eckerd baseball in 1972, the task ahead of him was going to be challenging. The team had only just enjoyed its first winning season, a 12-8 record in 1971 against an abbreviated schedule, and had a nine-year winning percentage of 30 percent.

By the time he left six years later, Livesey had completely transformed the program.

In his first season, Livesey led the team to 23 wins.  In 1974, the Tritons went 33-13.  Three years later, they were competing for a national championship.

The 1977 season was a special one in many aspects. One year after winning 40 games, a record that still stands to this day, a team that included future major leaguers Steve Balboni and Joe Lefebvre (Balboni became a World Series Champion nine years later) found itself in Springfield, Illinois, facing off against California-Riverside for the NCAA Division II National Championship but came up short, 4-1, in the winner-take-all game.

Livesey's teams advanced to the regional tournament for five consecutive years from 1973 through 1977 while he compiled a record of 184-62 at the helm of the Triton program.

He also coached the Eckerd men's soccer team for four years (1973-1976), compiling an impressive 43-9-1 record including a 10-0-1 campaign in the program's inaugural year. In the 1974 season, he led Eckerd to the program's only national tournament appearance.

In the 1974-75 year, he led both men's soccer and baseball to the national tournament. 

Before arriving at Eckerd, Livesey played the University of Maine where he was an all-conference selection in 1962. He went on to join the head coaching ranks at Brown University where he guided the team from 1969-1971.

With his success at Eckerd and keen eye for talent evident, it wasn't long until the major leagues came calling.  Livesey departed St. Petersburg for a role with the New York Yankees, first as a scout and later as director of scouting.  During his time in the scounting department, the Yankees laid the foundation for their return to dominance with the signing of players such as Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Petitte, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter.

He also spent one season as the manager of the Paintsville Yankees in 1979, going an astounding 52-13 on the way to the Appalachain League championship.

He left the Yankees for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1996 as the director of player development and special assistant to the general manager.  He served in the latter role for the Toronto Blue Jays (2002-03) and New York Mets (2004-05) before returning to the Yankees in 2008 and settling as the senior advisor to the general manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012.

His success as a scout was recognized when he received George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in 2012, an occasion where Yankee GM Brian Cashman called Livesey the "architect behind the architect" of the 1990's dynasty.

Although he will be most remembered in baseball for his success in recognizing and developing talent at the professional level, he will be remembered at Eckerd for recognizing and developing talent that turned a fledgling Triton baseball program into a national contender.