Little league is in full swing for 2021, but there are no Giants.
Back in the late 60s or early 70s, there was a whole team full. That team was led by forever Fair Havenite Bill Lang, who was laid to rest recently. He was a giant of a personality and volunteer for all things Fair Haven, so the team’s name was fitting.
Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Baseball Giants
Little League season in the Rumson-Fair Haven area is in full swing! You can almost hear the taunt from the field in the early 70s … “Hey, batter, batter …”
Continue reading Retro Cardinal Little League Hit
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?
Here’s to a home run of an RFH Baseball season and lifetime friendship!
Continue reading Retro RFH Home Run
Batter up! There would have been both varsity and junior varsity baseball games at RFH today had there been a baseball season. Now, though, the RFH games against Holmdel have a black line through them on the high school’s athletic schedule.
Continue reading Retro RFH Socially Distant Baseball Times
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.
Continue reading Retro RFH Girl Playing the Boys’ Baseball Field
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.
Continue reading Retro RFH Baseball Bench Time
Baseball season is always a hit at RFH. Call it a home run sport.
Continue reading Retro RFH Baseball Hit
RFH baseball season just wouldn’t be celebrated properly without a look back at a popular coach like Hal Lorme.
Continue reading Retro RFH Baseball Coaching MomentYou may recognize at least one of these RFH boys from the baseball practice pile-up prank in our recent Retro Pic of the Day. Call it playing ball peppered with a little spring fever.
Continue reading Retro RFH Dugout DudesIn 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
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!
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