Concord Monitor from Concord, New Hampshire • 27

CONCORD MONITOR riday March 28 1997 C7 W7 7 Tesreau a pitcher with the New York Giants from 1912 to 1918 had compiled a 115 72 record in the big leagues to go with a 243 career ERA Rolfe was named captain of the freshman baseball team in 1927 and in a 12 3 trouncing of Groton went 4 for 4 and scored four runs He was special and Tesreau saw it already His sophomore season began on a high note Although the Green lost its first game 7 6 to Gettys burg Rolfe picked up his first var sity hit a triple In first Eastern League game Rolfe stole home with the final run in a 5 1 victory over Princeton Tesreau soon moved Rolfe to cleanup and he responded Leads Attack as Green Nine Beats Northeastern 10 read the head line for ord story Rolfe Dartmouth shortstop was mostly responsible for the tri umph of the boys from Sawyer wrote a New UTpor the first time since the days of "Young Cy Young more than 20 years ago Concord is to have a boy in the big wrote sports editor Ruel Colby in the June 22 1931 edition Rolfe captain of this Dart mouth nine and product first of Penacook sandlots and the Sunset League is the local youth who starts tomorrow making his bid for fame in the Both Jack ifield and Irving Young (not to be con fused with the pitcher who won 511 games) had lived in Concord when CHARLOTTE THIBAULT I Monitor staff they signed with pro clubs but nei ther had been bom in the city The first wearer of a Concord uniform to reach The Show was Bobby Wheelock who hit 235 in 854 ca reer at bats in 1887 and goodbyes were hasty He had to make an 8 pm train to catch up with the Yankees in Chi cago the next night His former mates from the Sunset League presented him with a traveling bag He left for Chicago with little fan fare Colby reported that Rolfe had received offers from the Boston Braves and the Athletics but he signed for more money with the Yankees On June 25 1931 Red Rolfe offi cially became a New York Yankee for the grand total of $600 per month The Boston Transcript re ported that the 23 year old also re ceived a $5000 signing bonus Accounts of first year with the Green are scant He was active and at 5 foot ll 170 pounds played freshman football (including left end in a 15 0 white washing of Cushing) basketball and baseball The earb jears Oct 17 1908 Robert Abial Rolfe is born in Penacook 1 1922 helps eighth grade 1 Penacook High School team win the Mernmack 4 Valley Baseball League Championship 1923 wins the Sunset League Most Valuable Player Award 1926 heads to Phillips Exeter for a post graduate year 1927 enrolls at Dartmouth College and is named cap tain of the freshman base ball team 1928 finishes the season hit ting 472 in league games and leads tjne Green to the Quadrange Cup June 13 1931 looking as though he may join the Athletics visits Shibe Park 'j in Philadelphia and talks 1 with Connie Mack' June 25 1931 becomes a member of the New York Yankees signing a deal worth $600 a month What Penacook High School Coach Jim Steele and OllUiIiy xvxuivii uau ucvctvytu via the season was unfruitful the Green took the Eastern League lead with a 9 8 victory over Penn on May 9 Rolfe slumped however his average dropping to 275 by end The headlines fo cused on the positive: Han dled 74 of 78 Chances or Dart mouth Nine to Top Dartmouth again won the East ern League this time by a large margin There was good news after the season for Rolfe He became the first Concord boy to be named cap tain of a Dartmouth baseball team He was determined to make 1931 his senior year more productive A few games into the season the first signs that Rolfe was being scouted appeared in the newspaper Gene McCann a New York Yankees scout had been ghosting Rolfe for a couple of years and according to the paper say the kid is destined to hook up with Babe Ruth at the end of the college On June 13 it looked briefly as though Rolfe might be headed to the Philadelphia Athletics The Green was in Philadelphia to take on Penn and Rolfe visited Shibe Park home of the world champion and spoke with Manager Con nie Mack Nothing came of it Rolfe was named to the College Humor All America team and sec ond team all college league He hit359 in 10 league games and fin ished as the best fielding shortstop McCann the scout had found his man ive days after graduation from Dartmouth with a degree in English news came that he had signed with New York The next year Rolfe batted 467 good for fourth in the league through his first 15 at bats Dart mouth looked just as good Although the trip south to start nuLrc Continued from Page He and his neighborhood friends played in the pasture behind the house where his father grew up They called themselves the Bog Pi rates remember one of his jobs was to keep the wood box said Maijorie Rolfe one of younger sisters who still lives in the house they grew up in mother had an awful time trying to keep it full because he was always olf playing He started playing for Penacook High School when he was in sev enth grade hot because of his abili ty but because there enough players to fill out the nine played right field and he was said Don Randall first chance he said he had a fly ball and he ran after it and he stepped in a hole and caught the ball Although too young to remem ber anything but managing and administrative days at Dart mouth Don has every memento of that wife Isabel does not In eighth grade 1922 Penacook High team won the Mer rimack Valley Baseball League Championship Two summers lat er after his sophomore year at PHS he made his first appearance in a Sunset League game playing for Elks He played in the league for only two years 1924 and and was the Most Valu able Player in 1925 an impressive feat considering most of the play ers were much older Instead of playing in the league for a third year Rolfe decided to work for the playground at Rolfe Park after his graduation from Penacook High School The parkhad been named for his grandfa ther who willed the land to the city That summer he brought some friends to the family camp at Lake Winnepocket lorence by then a Latin major at the Universi ty of New Hampshire also brought a group of friends Among them was a dark haired beauty Isabel Africa who was studying at UNH to be a dietitian It was the first meeting of a couple who would be married for 34 years Rolfe passed his exams to get into Dartmouth but his cousins ad vised him to go to Phillips Exeter Hampshire boy gave a brilliant ex hibition of shortfielding throttling Northeastern rallies on several oc casions and at bat he collected a home run triple and a single in his first three times at While league games were im portant Dartmouth had its big game each year against Harvard The Crimson had a big name shortstop as well It was question able whether Eddie McGrath who had sprained his ankle stealing home would play He did and it cost the Green as he singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th Despite the loss the season was a success for both Dartmouth and Rolfe Dartmouth took the Quad rangle Cup given to the champion of the Eastern League and Rolfe led the league in hitting at 472 in nine league games Overall he hit 429 (36 for 84) His reputation was beginning to catch wind with the scouts DENISE SANCHEZ Monitor staff widow Isabel and his sister Marjorie proudly display some of his mementos Academy to get acquainted with a larger school environment Rolfe went off for a post graduate year in Simmy Murch had developed on the fall of 1926 He played ball at the diamond Dartmouth Coach Phillins Exeter for a former major Jeff Tesreau began to refine leaguer big bimmy iviurcn Rolfe wait for spring to earn his first varsity letter He played for the basketball team in the winter In his first game a 31 19 thrashing at the hands of Cushing Academy on Jan 8 he played forward but neither scored nor committed a foul It was at Phillips Exeter that he picked up the nickname that stuck for the rest of his life Bobby Rolfe became Red Rolfe for his straw berry hair or club he played re spectably in the field and hit well but the season was a bust Exeter lost its annual game with rival An dover Dartmouth awaited "I 1 1 3 fc RmBhh Jt ciM ca 1 I 4 nt tj I 1 I SMITH Continued from Page gional School articulate be yond his years saying that he might not be enough to play lacrosse one of his favorite sports once he hits college He also likes rollerblading street hockey baseball soccer touch football and Blues Traveler He also loves to shoot hoops prac ticing his craft about three hours per week Last year he entered the Elks Hoopshoot a national foul shooting contest He get past the Lo cal round which is the first round after hitting 15 of 25 shots That bothered him concentrate at the Smith said used to how to be nervous This year I de veloped that skill and my father says a good skill to had it during this event which began with the Local round in November at the Concord Boys and Girls Club Smith hit 20 of 25 shots to beat 10 other kids No sweat was Smith said just thought about getting the ball and shooting I have much com petition and I was shooting well that On to the Districts two months ago in Derry where Smith hit 21 of 25 shots Again the kid rat tle dad told me before I start ed very proud of you If you lose still love Smith said give me much stress I said the heck just Luckily I inally at the State level last month at New Hampshire College Smith showed he human thought of it in a different he recalled thought gotta win and make my dad happy I gotta win and make my dad I got a little Shaky? Smith hit his first 10 shots and finished 21 for 25 But another kid also finished with 21 forcing a five shot shoot off The enemy hit three of five Our boy missed his first one then buried four straight State champion On to the Re gionals dad gave me one of those Smith said is the greatest Sloan Always re member I said worry dad I The Regionals had a different flavor More pressure More fans 400 to 500 More at stake a berth in the Nationals April 19 and your Dad always told me games are won on foul shots 9 Sloan Smith name inscribed in tne Basketball Hall of ame in Springfield During the 8 and 9 year old competition Smith sat by himself and twirled a ball in his hands over and over to get the feel of it on his fingers Then it was his turn to shoot A hush came over the crowd The lone sound was the bounce of the ball In case two dribbles And a twirl father Gerald de scribed it this way: unlike a basketball game and much more like golf The place is quiet Every one is just watching and the kid comes up to the line and takes the shots and people are asked not to get up and leave while the kids are shooting No ruffling of papers a lot of pressure more like putting than what famili ar with with have to Smith said was more shaky than ever Still he was steady enough to hit 18 of 25 shots Then he watched as his closest opponent nailed 17 shots and with one left missed Hit the back rim Smith was one of 12 Regional winners nationwide gave my dad a big hug and he said congratulations and good luck in the next And what about the next round Sloan? Nervous? I answer he said have had dreams about it but when I think about it I get worried I hope I put too much pressure on Sure been a problem so far While Robinson played for everyone Deion plays for himself Sanders's shallowness is beyond words By STEVE MARANTZ The Sporting News If Jackie Robinson were alive today what would he think of someone like Deion Sanders? When Robinson broke the major league color line could he have imagined 50 years later a margin al black baseball player paid millions would claim to be a victim of racism? Thanks to Robinson baseball is open to everybody: whites blacks Hispanics Asians saints sinners and even clueless windbags such as Sanders who blows hot air out of both ends and tries to sell his stink as perfume Sanders is wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform this spring feel dumb if you know he changes teams and cities as if they were dirty underwear In the fall he plays for the Dallas Cowboys nnracinnnllv hntwnpn niirhlPS: In case you missed it Sanders recently gave his aoctorai dissertation on race re lations In the context of a discussion about Robinson with Cincinnati Enquirer col umnist Paul Daugherty Sanders said exists in baseball every day just disguised more I was a white man doing what done in sports accomplishing the things I have things would be much different the first whiteman able to do what we do will be on the back of milk cartons and not because White fans watching a white player with similar skills Sanders went on be more accepting more amazed more appreciative of a So this is the new benchmark of rac ism the degree to which white fans Deion Sanders ifty years ago racism was defined by a brave battle for economic and social justice Jackie heroism is inspiring beyond words The shallowness of Sand ers also is beyond words ans should understand an essential truth about Sanders: He is for sale Every ounce of his being is for sale or the right price he will sell his face ears teeth hair lungs and brain He will sell his thoughts feelings and loyalty He personi fies the Athlete as Mail Order Catalogue $595 extra for shipping and handling He care who he plays for only what he is being paid He has no passion for games only for his investment portfo lio Because Sanders hypes himself and any company or product meeting his price he is colorless He is no longer black He is simply green As an exceedingly rich and bloodless mercenary Sanders should realize one thing: He has no moral standing on which to pass racial judgment He has sold his moral compass He has been bought off by the system and culture he seeks to criticize There is a line beyond which need becomes greed and exploited be comes exploiter Sanders crossed that line long ago Even if that were not true he still would be the wrong messenger to deliver his dubious message Why? Because Sanders is an obsessive self promoter He markets himself as a celebrity Thus when Sanders chooses to broad brush white fans as racist we must assume he is doing what he always has done selling himself He is talking black to his black constituents Next week he may be telling jokes in Yiddish Only this time the implications are re pugnant What do I tell my 11 year old son who loves baseball? kid you are racist unless you cheer louder for Deion Racism is too dangerous an idea to be hijacked by casual bomb throwers The Simpson trial proved that an alleged mur derer can go free if his accusers are be lieved to be racist In America racism is the greater sin implying penultimate moral degradation Arbiters of racism are stem indeed Sure white fans can be loud and obnoxious and some have bad haircuts but very few of them aspire to racism even if they appreciate Sanders to his satisfaction America has undergone a relatively bloodless evolution since 1947 Blacks gained equality under the law and as cended in politics business arts academ ia entertainment media and of course sport In 1947 they were largely invisible impoverished and disenfranchised Today a thriving and energetic black middle class is rapidly expanding It is easy to deconstruct America as intractably racist and yes some inequities remain but in the long sweep of history no society has reformed itself so quickly and dramatical iy In 50 years America has gone from Jackie Robinson to Deion Sanders Robin son gave his heart and soul to helping blacks both on field and off Sanders is too busy depositing royalties to help any body I asked the Cowboys and Reds if Sanders is involved in charity or commu nity programs: Negative on both This is not to suggest that Sanders or any black player can equal the impact of Robinson nor be held to his standard of sacrifice and commitment Many carry on work in spirit Mo youth program in poorest neigh borhood is an example Still one wonders what Robinson would think of creeping complacency Nothing gets done in baseball without the union yet the involvement of black players is practically nil During the strike of 95 players in leadership posi tions were almost all white with the ex ception of Cecil ielder The play er leadership as well as executive admin istrators remain almost white If Jackie Robinson were alive today what would he think of black players mak ing millions yet unwilling to roll up their sleeves for the union? My guess is Robin son would be on the barricades doing the dirty work for Deion Sanders iz 3 i Tu 'T' A ST I A io SPA jL Sanders has no idea what Jackie Robinson went through.