Tag Archives: baseball

Local Life

Retro RFH Girls Playing Ball

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RFH Girls Baseball circa late 70s/early 80s
Photo/RFH Yearbook via Phrita Black Norris

We’ve been talking a good game of baseball lately. Everyone has. It’s the season, after all. And, looking back, decades back, it’s been all about the boys.

That’s because it was a guy’s game decades ago. There was one girl on the RFH team. She was a pioneer. Then the girls got their own team.

That was in the late 70s or early 80s. We’re not sure of the exact year.

But, it’s time we say, “Let’s hear it for the girls!”

So, take a gander back at an RFH girls’ baseball team and coach.

Know these ladies? We spy one from Fair Haven. The coach?

Local Life

Retro RFH Girl Playing the Boys’ Baseball Field

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RFH Class of '78 alumni Nancy Whelchel was the first girl to play on the boys' baseball team. Photo/George Day
RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel was the first girl to play on the boys’ baseball team.
Photo/George Day
Nancy Whelchel, first girl on the RFH Boys Baseball team
Photos/Nancy Whelchel

Yes, it’s all about the high school baseball season being benched right now over the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s game-changing news. Who knows if things will ever be the same on the high school baseball field. And back in the 1970s, the idea of RFH girls breaking into sports that were traditionally boys’ turf was taboo. Then came another game changer — a girl who wanted to be one of the boys on the field. That was Nancy Whelchel of the RFH Class of ’78.

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Local Life

Retro RFH Baseball Bench Time

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  • RFH Baseball boys in the dugout circa 1970s
    Photo/George Day

Baseball season at RFH should be in full swing right now. COVID-19, instead, struck the season out and benched all high school players in the game.

They can’t get onto the field now and will likely miss the entire season due to the pandemic. Yes, they’re in a necessary, undeserving time out. Everyone is.

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro RFH Baseball First: Girl on the Boys’ Team

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RFH Class of '78 alumni Nancy Whelchel was the first girl to play on the boys' baseball team. Photo/George Day
RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel was the first girl to play on the boys’ baseball team.
Photo/George Day

In light of baseball season and honoring high school firsts in the breaking down of gender barriers, this Retro Pic of the Day, originally published in 2015, is being recirculated … 

Yes, it’s all about baseball right now.

And the idea of RFH girls breaking into sports that were traditionally boys’ is something to think about.

So, who was on first, or, rather who was first to be somewhere on the field with the guys in the 1970s? It was RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel.

Yes, Nancy got onto the baseball field with the boys at RFH a year or two after Chris Bowden scored a goal for girls in soccer.

It all happened back in the day when girls had just made strides to change the dress code and wear pants to school. That was a mass effort. There were a lot of girls walking around wearing skirts or dresses with pants underneath. But that’s another girls’ liberation story for another day.

It’s about those singular sensation girls who defied a status quo form of sexism when literally playing the fields.

So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day honors one of those girls — Nancy Whelchel. It’s a snapshot of Nancy on the field with Ward Tietz.

We’re not sure if this is an actual team practice shot or just one in which she was just tossing the ball around for fun with a couple of the guys from her class.

Still, there she is playing ball. She had the guts and the sports acumen to break the good ol’ — or young — boys’ sports network.

Home run.

I somehow don’t recall any sort of rebellion from the boys. She was good. That was all that mattered.

Any firsts for girls on the football field? Anyone? What was Nancy Whelchel’s specialty on the baseball field?

Many thanks, again, to George Day for this classic!

— Elaine Van Develde

Local Life

Retro RFH Batter Up!

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Playing baseball at RFH in the 1970s. Photo/George Day
Playing baseball at RFH in the 1970s.
Photo/George Day

Spring is coming and baseball season is starting soon at RFH. In fact, the first varsity games are set for March 10.

So, to honor the start of the season and all hopes for a home run of one, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day takes a look back to the 1970s and with a well known RFH alum getting into the swing of things.

Recognize #22 and remember what his stats were? Hey, batter, batter … who?

Know anyone else in the pic?

And how about those uniforms donning the old RF instead of RFH and the ol’ pin stripes?

Thanks, again, to George Day for another classic RFH photo!

 

Local Life

Ode to Retro RFH Baseball

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Baseball at RFH in the 1970s
Photo/George Day

It’s spring and baseball season is in full swing at RFH.

In fact, games are scheduled for today and Saturday.

So, in honor of the sport, that spiffy old RFH uniform and good times on the playing field, the Retro Pic(s) of the (George) Day offer a glimpse back to some days on the field and in the dugout back in the 1970s.

Recognize any of these guys? And, ball players, who was your favorite coach? One, for many, was the ever-popular Hal Lorme who passed away a couple of years ago.

Just thinking about the game, are ya? Take a look back and remember. Now, about those uniforms …

Thanks, once again, to the fabulous George Day for these glimpses back into RFH history! 

 

Local Life

Retro Yogi Berra in the Area

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Ball players Bill Skowron and Yogi Berra show for dedication of lights at a field in Middletown in 1962 Photo/screenshot of Red Bank Register archives
Ball players Bill Skowron and Yogi Berra show for dedication of lights at a field in Middletown in 1962
Photo/screenshot of Red Bank Register archives

Since the announcement of New York Yankees icon Yogi Berra, it’s been all about Yogi. And, why not?

The athlete who had that special penchant for those kooky quotes dubbed Yogisms, such as “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” and “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” died on Sept. 22 at the age of 90.

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