Rolfe played in four MLB All-Star Games and won five World Series championships before he retired after the 1942 season.

Rolfe then attended Phillips Exeter Academy for one year and played as a shortstop on their baseball team, which was managed by Simmy Murch.

[4] During the 1931 collegiate season, Rolfe met with Connie Mack, the manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, while Dartmouth was playing the Penn Quakers.

[13] Assigned to the Newark Bears of the International League in 1932, Rolfe took the starting shortstop job from Bobby Stevens.

[15] However, Heffner struggled and manager Joe McCarthy decided that Rolfe's throwing arm made him a better third baseman, as Lazzeri moved back to second base and Crosetti returned to shortstop.

[2] He batted .287 in 89 games, as a knee injury experienced when he collided with Max Bishop of the Boston Red Sox limited his playing time.

[4] During his major league playing career, Rolfe was the starting third baseman on the New York Yankees of the late 1930s.

The "Bronx Bombers" of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing won American League pennants from 1936–39 and took all four World Series in which they appeared, winning 16 games and losing only three in Fall Classic play over that span.

After finishing third in 1940, the Yankees rebounded to win league titles in 1941–42, and the World Series in the former year, before finally bowing in 1942.

In six World Series, Rolfe appeared in 28 games, all as the Yankees' starting third-sacker; he collected 33 hits and batted .284, with a fielding percentage of .944 in 71 chances.

[26] Under Rolfe's direction, the Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League joined the Tigers' farm system in December.

[28] Rolfe instituted rules that his players did not agree with, such as no shaving or beer in the clubhouse and no meals between doubleheaders.

Late in September at Cleveland, the Indians had the bases loaded in the tenth inning with one out and the score tied.

On an apparent 3-2-3 double-play grounder to first base, Detroit catcher Aaron Robinson thought he simply needed to touch home plate for a force play to retire the Indians' baserunner, Bob Lemon, charging in from third.

But in the smoky conditions Robinson had not seen that a putout had already been made at first base, necessitating that the catcher tag the runner, not the plate, to record an out.

[31] Beset by an aging starting rotation, the Tigers slipped in 1951, finishing in fifth place with a .474 mark, 25 games behind the first-place Yankees.

[33] Though Gehringer and the players, led by pitcher Fred Hutchinson, publicly refuted Cobbledick's story.

[34][35] Hal Newhouser later acknowledged that Rolfe's strict policies had alienated the players, but also said that the trade of George Kell, Dizzy Trout, Johnny Lipon, and Hoot Evers to the Boston Red Sox also hurt team morale.

[2] After he retired from Dartmouth, the couple lived on Governors Island on Lake Winnipesaukee, which is part of the town of Gilford, New Hampshire.