RCBL Hall of Fame Class of 2022
|
Shane Banks
Shane Banks played in the Rockingham County Baseball League for 18 years with 8 years at Fishersville and 10 years at Clover Hill. Shane enters the Hall of Fame as one of the most decorated players in terms of awards, pennants, and championships. Shane was not just a player during his time, but he was a league leader and a primary contributor to his team’s success, and championships.
Shane began his career with the Fishersville Rangers in 1997, where he played for 8 years. He accumulated a lifetime batting average at Fishersville of .413 and in 8 years at Fishersville hit 94 home runs, 295 RBI’s, 350 hits, and 256 runs scored. In addition to being one of the best hitters and first basemen, Shane also spent time on the mound. In 2000, Shane won 4 games for Fishersville and recorded 4 saves. In 2002, Shane won 2 games and lost 1 for Fishersville, but posted a 1.73 ERA over 26 innings pitched while securing 33 strikeouts. During Shane’s time at Fishersville, he was named the MVP of the league in 2000, 2001, and 2003 and was the Championship MVP in 2001. Shane also helped Fishersville win two pennants (2001 and 2003) and one championship (2001) In 2005, Shane transitioned to the Clover Hill Bucks where he continued his dominance at the plate and on the field. During his time at Clover Hill, he was a primary contributor to the success Clover Hill had. While at Clover Hill, Shane helped Clover Hill win seven pennants (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012) and seven championships (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2015). All together Shane has won nine pennants and eight championships during his time in the league. Shane finished his career with over a .350 batting average, over 120 homeruns, over 350 RBI’s, over 450 hits, and over 300 runs scored. |
|
Addison Bowman
Addison Bowman played in the Rockingham County Baseball League from 2004 to 2015, with all his time spent with the Clover Hill Bucks, and putting together a career that ranks with some of the best to ever play at Clover Hill. Addison did not just excel at Clover Hill; he also had a stellar college career at Virginia Tech and spent two years playing in Minor League Baseball.
Addison played at Virginia Tech between 1997 and 2001 and still holds the following records there today:
Addison was also the team captain in 2001 and was named Freshman All-American and was also an Atlantic 10 MVP. Over Addison’s two years in minor league baseball, he averaged a .258 batting average, had 5 homeruns, 33 doubles, and 58 RBI’s. During Addison’s time at Clover Hill, he won 7 pennants and 8 championships and was named the league MVP in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2013. He was also the finals MVP in 2009. He also was selected to multiple All-Stars games throughout his time at Clover Hill. For the current Poinstreak stat era, Addison had a career .371 batting average, with his best season coming in 2013, in which he hit .455, with 60 hits, 8 doubles, 3 homeruns, and 30 RBI’s. |
|
Donnie Coffey
Donnie Coffey began his career with the Rockingham County Baseball League in 1963 with Harriston and played over the next 11 years till 1973. All his time was spent with Harriston except for his final two seasons, in which he played for Grottoes.
Donnie split time between the outfield and shortstop, where he excelled defensively in both positions, but was even more well known for his hitting ability. Two of the eleven years Donnie played in the RCBL, he hit over .500, and over his eleven-year span in the league he averaged roughly a .400 batting average. In Donnie’s best year of hitting, he accumulated a batting average of over .400 and hit 9 homeruns. While playing for Harriston, Donnie was involved in winning seven straight RCBL pennants (1965 – 1971) and three RCBL Championships (1965, 1967, and 1970). Donnie was also an all-star seven of the eleven years he played. Donnie said he played in multiple leagues throughout Virginia during the 60’s and 70’s, and the Rockingham County Baseball League was always the best and had the best competition. |
|
Sam Hess
Sam Hess played in the Rockingham County Baseball League from 1975-1981, with all his time spent with the Clover Hill Bucks, and put together an impressive career over those 6 years.
Before starting his career in the Rockingham County Baseball League, Sam was drafted out of high school in the 10th round by the Minnesota Twins. Sam played the next 4 years in Minor League baseball, playing in 100 games and compiling a .219 batting average. Before Sam was drafted to the MLB, he was recruited to the University of Virginia to play baseball there but decided to forgo college when the draft happened. After leaving Minor League baseball, Sam returned to the valley and began his career with the Clover Hill Bucks. During his time with Clover Hill, Sam won 2 pennants, and 2 championships. He also won the batting title 2 years, the slugging award 1 year (in which his slugging percentage was over 700) and was the co-league MVP in 1976 with Tommy Martz. Same hit for a career .380 batting average and one year only struck out twice the entire year. Sam was also an all-star selection each year he played. |
|
Adam Knicely
Adam Knicely stared his career in the Rockingham County Baseball League at the age of 16 and played for the Bridgewater Reds for three years before graduating high school and going to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he also played baseball. While at VCU, Adam took a break from the RCBL and played 2 years for the Valley Baseball League but also compiled a very successful college career at VCU. Adam is still recognized for the following single season and career records through VCU
From 1998 to 2001, Adam took a break from playing in the RCBL, but in 2002, he found himself back in the league as a coach with the Clover Hill Bucks. Adam helped with Clover Hill from 2002 – 2003 and won both a pennant and a championship during those two years. In addition to be selected for the Rockingham County Baseball League Hall of Fame, Adam has also been inducted into the VCU Sports Hall of Fame and the Turner Ashby Sports Hall of Fame. When asked what Adam most liked about playing in the RCBL, he said the competition, the opportunity to play with other family members, and the opportunity to play with people he played high school baseball with. When asked if the competition he faced in the RCBL was as good then as what he faced in the Valley League, he said yes, and probably better. |
|
Jeff McCauley
Jeff McCauley played in the Rockingham County Baseball League from 1974-1990. He started his career with Grottoes and then transitioned to Shenandoah where we played the final 10 years of his career.
Jeff played his first two years at Grottoes while he was still in High School and then took a break from the Rockingham County Baseball League while he attended Eastern Mennonite College and played Baseball. While at Eastern Mennonite, Jeff was named to the All-ODAC All Conference team in 1979 as a designated hitter and Jeff still holds a Division III record for Homeruns per game average from 1978 where he averaged a homerun every other game. After his time at Eastern Mennonite College, Jeff went on to play one year of Minor League Baseball for the Bluefield Blue Jays where he saw time as both an infielder and pitcher. In 1981, Jeff returned to the valley and played the next 10 years for the Shenandoah Indians. During this time with Shenandoah, Jeff was a pitcher and played 3rd base and shortstop. Jeff was an all-star selection each year he played for the Shenandoah and compiled a lifetime batting average of over .325. Jeff’s coach for Shenandoah at that time was AC Jenkins and AC stated during an interview, that Jeff was one of the best competitors he had ever seen. “You had to beat him, he was not going to make it easy for anyone.” AC also stated there were several stellar pitchers in the league during that time, but he would have chosen Jeff over any of them in a high-pressure game situation. |
|
Charles RhodesCharles Rhodes, better known to most as Charlie, spent his entire career with the Rockingham County Baseball League as an umpire, and was well respected by those who coached and played in the league in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Charlies spent 12 years umpiring in the Rockingham County Baseball League, starting the early 80’s and finishing up in the early to mid-90’s.
When asked how Charlie got in to umpiring in the Rockingham County Baseball League, he stated it started with first umpiring in Little League. After umpiring in Little League, he then started umpiring high school baseball games and then moved on to umpiring in the Rockingham County Baseball League. Charlie said his most enjoyable moment as an umpire in the league, was watching the talent of the ball players that played in the league during his time. When asked who some of the better pitchers were that he enjoyed watching or umpiring for, he stated Fred Hill and Sparky Simmons. Charlies said those guys could pitch and they were fun to umpire. When asked if Charlie remembered any funny stores throughout his years of umpiring, he immediately said one came to mind. Charlie couldn’t remember the year, but he remembered he was the base umpire for the game and the game was being held at Bridgewater. The home plate umpire made a call that one of the coaches did not agree with and that coach came running out on the field to confront the home plate umpire. Just as the coach got to the home plate umpire, still running full steam, the plate umpire bent over to sweep off home plate, and the coach ran into him and flipped completely over the umpire. When asked if the coach still argued the call, Charlie laughed and said, “no, I think he was more concerned with how embarrassed he was at the moment, instead of the call.” Charlies said the coach walked back to the dugout and no calls were argued by him the rest of the night. All though Charlie enjoyed all the fields he umpired at, he said Linville and Montezuma were probably his two favorite. Charlies said one of his proudest moments in being associated with the Rockingham County Baseball League was helping to design and build the Montezuma Braves ballpark. |