Red Rolfe

Robert Abial "Red" Rolfe (October 17, 1908 – July 8, 1969) was an American baseball third baseman, manager and front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Rolfe was born on October 17, 1908, in Penacook, New Hampshire.

His father, Herbert, earned a living in the lumber business.

Rolfe was the fifth of seven children; he had four older sisters and one younger sister.

A younger brother died in infancy in 1910.

While he was in the seventh grade, Rolfe started to play for Penacook High School's baseball team, as the school did not have enough players.

Playing for Penacook's team again in the eighth grade, the school won the league championship.

He played for Penacook's baseball team in all four years that he was a student at the school, before he graduated in 1926.

Rolfe then attended Phillips Exeter Academy for one year and played as a shortstop on their baseball team, which was managed by Simmy Murch.

At Phillips Exeter, he began to be known as "Red" due to the color of his hair.

Rolfe enrolled at Dartmouth College and played college baseball for the Dartmouth Indians.

He played on the freshman team as their shortstop in his first year and was team captain.

He also played for the football and basketball teams.

Rolfe then played for three years on the varsity team for the next three years, under head coach Jeff Tesreau as a shortstop.

Tesreau made Rolfe his cleanup hitter.

While a student at Dartmouth, Rolfe spent the summer of 1930 playing for the Orleans town team in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was managed by longtime major league player and manager Patsy Donovan.

During his major league playing career, Rolfe was the starting third baseman on the New York Yankees of the late 1930s.

He played in MLB for the New York Yankees from 1931 to 1942 and managed the Detroit Tigers from 1949 to 1952.

Rolfe was a native of Penacook, New Hampshire.

He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Dartmouth College and signed with the Yankees.

Rolfe graduated from Dartmouth in 1931.

During the 1931 collegiate season, Rolfe met with Connie Mack, the manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, while Dartmouth was playing the Penn Quakers.

Rather than sign with the Athletics, scout Gene McCann signed Rolfe to the New York Yankees days after his graduation from Dartmouth for $600 per month and a $5,000 signing bonus.

Rolfe reported directly to the Yankees and made his professional debut with the Yankees on June 29 as a defensive replacement.

It was customary at the time for the Yankees to introduce a prospect to the major leagues briefly before sending him to the minor leagues.

In July, the Yankees optioned Rolfe to the Albany Senators of the Eastern League.

He batted .333 in 58 games for Albany.

Assigned to the Newark Bears of the International League in 1932, Rolfe took the starting shortstop job from Bobby Stevens.

Rolfe batted .330 in 147 games for Newark in 1932, as Newark won the International League pennant.

Returning to Newark for the 1933 season, Rolfe batted .326 and won the International League Most Valuable Player Award as Newark again won the pennant.

Rolfe became the Yankees starting shortstop in 1934, with Don Heffner, who played second base alongside Rolfe with Newark, becoming the Yankees' starting second baseman, and second baseman Tony Lazzeri and shortstop Frankie Crosetti playing as third basemen.

However, Heffner struggled and manager Joe McCarthy decided that Rolfe's throwing arm made him a better third baseman, as Lazzeri moved back to second base and Crosetti returned to shortstop.

He batted .287 in 89 games, as a knee injury experienced when he collided with Max Bishop of the Boston Red Sox limited his playing time.

Rolfe became their starting third baseman in 1935.

The "Bronx Bombers" of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing won American League pennants from 1936–39 and took all four World Series in which they appeared, winning 16 games and losing only three in Fall Classic play over that span.

His finest season came in 1939, when he led the American League with 213 hits, 139 runs scored, and 46 doubles while hitting .329 with 14 home runs and 80 RBIs.

After finishing third in 1940, the Yankees rebounded to win league titles in 1941–42, and the World Series in the former year, before finally bowing in 1942.

Rolfe played ten major league seasons, all with New York, batting .289 with 1,394 hits, 69 home runs and 497 runs batted in (RBIs) in 1,175 games.

Rolfe played in four MLB All-Star Games and won five World Series championships before he retired after the 1942 season.

He coached in college baseball for Yale University from 1943 to 1946 and served as athletic director for Dartmouth from 1954 to 1967, while coaching baseball during the 1954 and 1955 seasons.