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Robert Abial Rolfe
New York Yankees
Third Base
Born: October 17, 1908, Penacook, NH
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1931, 1934-1942
World Series Appearances: New York Yankees 1936-1939, 1941-1942
As a Manager: Detroit Tigers 1949-1952
Died: July 8, 1969, Gilford, NH (60)
Red Rolfe played in 10 major league seasons with the Yankees, reaching the World Series in six of those seasons and winning five World Series rings as a key member of the "Bronx Bombers" of the 1930s. As the team's regular third baseman, Rolfe went to four All-Star Games and provided both a steady glove and a reliable bat. His best season came in 1939 when he helped the Yankees reach the World Series by leading the league in runs (139), hits (213) and doubles (46) while hitting his career highs in batting average (.329) and home runs (14). He tied his career high with 80 RBIs that season as well. With his glove, Rolfe twice led the league in fielding percentage for third basemen (1935 and 1936).
Retiring following the 1942 season, Rolfe coached baseball and basketball at Yale University before returning to the majors in 1947 as a coach for the Yankees. He took over as manager of the Tigers beginning in 1949, going 278-256 over four years at the helm. Rolfe returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth, as their athletic director in 1954 where he stayed until retiring in 1967. In a 1969 Yankees fan poll, Rolfe was named the third baseman on the Yankees' all-time greatest team.
December 15, 2020 from Longmont, CO (BBC Emporium) - Card #3
Bitten by the bug of collecting a new set, I decided I could justify an early Christmas present to myself and while on a particularly long and unproductive work video meeting, I found four more cards for my set. Along with this Rolfe card, I added the cards of Roy Mahaffey (#10), "Jo Jo" White (#45) and Fred M. Frankhouse (#62). Rolfe and White were the priciest two of the four-card lot from BBC Emporium located in Longmont, Colorado.
Variations Available
1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright
It's not a variation, but a completely different card of Rolfe that's available in the final 24 cards of the set released in 1936. Rolfe, along with 11 other players, had their cards duplicated using the same photos as the cards issued already in either 1934 or 1935. Rolfe's second card shows up at #104. The text on the back of card #104 is exactly the same too, but in blue ink, with Rolfe's age updated to 28 and listing his .300 average from 1935.
The Card / Yankees Team Set
There's all kinds of stuff going on in that Art Deco photo. Rolfe is presumably getting ready to make a throw from third to first while the shortstop (maybe?) looks on and an umpire preemptively makes a safe call even though Rolfe is still holding the ball. In the distance, a factory's smokestack sends smoke into the cloudless blue sky. Rolfe is wearing a Yankees road uniform, as those sported "New York" across the front while the Yankees home uniforms contained nothing but pinstripes up until 1936.
The back contains a fielding tip, advising the reader to learn how to anticipate in which direction a batted ball will go based on the location of the pitch. Rolfe had mastered this, according to the write-up, which is part of the reason he had become a successful fielder.
1935 Season
This was to be Rolfe's first full season as the Yankees' regular third baseman, as he had taken over from Jack Saltzgaver towards the end of the 1934 season. The rest of the infield consisted of Lou Gehrig (#130) at first, Tony Lazzeri (#74) at second and Frankie Crosetti (#86) at shortstop. His SABR biography notes that Rolfe took meticulous notes to prepare himself better in the field, and his diligence resulted in an early version of an infield shift for certain batters. In 149 games, Rolfe hit .300 with 108 runs scored (third on the team) and 67 RBIs.
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Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1934 Goudey #94
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1): 1952
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2010 Topps New York Yankees 27 World Series Championships #YC8
I'm curious to learn how many of the subjects of these Diamond Stars card made it into Topps flagship sets, beginning almost 20 years later. Rolfe is the first, as his stint as a Tigers manager resulted in his first and only Topps card in the 1952 set.
120 - Rolfe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/21/20.
Sources:
Previous Card: #28 "Al" Lopez - Brooklyn Dodgers
Next Card: #30 "Heinie" Manush - Washington Senators
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