VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Photo Credit: Western Carolina Univ Athletics

Swanton

Baseball

Inducted 2026

A top all-around athlete from Swanton and Missisquoi Valley Union High, Matt Raleigh was a record-setting all-American baseball player at D-I Western Carolina and had a lengthy minor league playing and coaching career. His years as a minor league hitting instructor in the Marlins system paid off with a World Series ring in 2003 when Florida topped the Yankees.

At MVU, he was a three-year soccer starter and all-state in ice hockey. On the diamond as a pitcher, shortstop, and top hitter, Raleigh, along with brothers John and Todd, helped lead the Thunderbirds to three consecutive state titles from 1986 to 1988, and he earned the 1988 Vermont Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year.  Known for his power at the plate wherever he played, he hit a mammoth, legendary home run in a high school final at Burlington’s historic Centennial Field that cleared the old football and soccer press box.

We went to Western Carolina to play for VSHOF inductee Jack Leggett and not only was one of the Catamounts top hitters he was a three-time first team all-Southern Conference selection and the SoCon Player of the Year in 1992, helping the team to the NCAA regionals. He set WCU and SoCon career records in hits, home runs, total bases and RBI. 

He was taken by the Montreal Expos in the 14th round of the 1992 June MLB Draft and played 10 years in the minors. He led the Midwest League in 1994 with 34 homers for Burlington (Iowa) and hit 37 for the Binghamton Mets, tops in the AA Eastern League in 1997. He capped his playing career with two seasons in Triple A and a pair of others in the independent minor leagues.

In addition to his coaching career in the Marlins system, he was the manager of the Double A Carolina Mudcats in 2008, leading them to a first place finish. Two future major league star hitters, Adrian Gonzalez and Miguel Cabrera, credited Raleigh in helping advance them to the majors.

Raleigh was also a coach for the Maine-Endwell (N.Y.) Little League team that won the 2016 Little League World Series, and the head baseball coach for the Maine-Endwell High School teams that went deep into the NYSAA playoffs, reaching the title game in 2019 and capturing the 2024 Class A state title.

Raleigh was selected to the Western Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004, was named to the Southern Conference 100th Anniversary Team in 2021, and was inducted into the Binghamton Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023. Along with his brothers, John and Todd, he was inducted into the Vermont Principals Association Hall of Fame in 2024. He is the first to be inducted into the VSHOF from Missisquoi Valley Union High School.

In addition to being the high school coach at Maine-Endwell Central, Raleigh runs an indoor baseball training center in Endwell, N.Y.  His son Brody, a member of the 2016 LLWS Champions, now plays baseball for the Western Carolina Catamounts.