Bob Peffle Coach Peffle's Daily News All-City Players: FIRST TEAM     John Stinsman SS 1992 Ed Durfor 1B 2000 Dave Firth P 2002 Joe Farina P 2003 Carlos Rivera P 2003 Joe Farina P 2004 Luis Alicea INF 2005 Ramon Reyes C 2006 Esteban Meletiche INF 2007 SECOND TEAM     Bobby Granata INF 1996 Ryan McGovern INF 1998 Ryan McGovern INF 1999 Matt Colon OF 2003 Cory Shaeffer INF 2004 Edwin "Tito" Rohena OF 2007 THIRD TEAM     Lovato Bowman OF 1995 John Stinsman DH 1991 Bob Dittman P 1992 Tom Sullivan P 1993 Fred Ewing INF 1996 Dennis Boyles 1B 1998 Tim Neal OF 1998 Carlos Rosado INF 2005 Juan Carlos Torres 1B 2006 Esteban Meletiche INF 2006 Kevin Roche OF 2007 Lovato Bowman OF 1994     -

Bob Peffle Tribute Page   Bob Peffle, an alumnus, coached Frankford's baseball team for 19 seasons (1989-2007), winning 197 Public League games and five championships. In 2003, the Pioneers won their second consecutive crown and Joe Farina finished his career with a 97-2 record in PL games over three sports (also football, wrestling). Here is that story . . . By Ted Silary   Joe Farina has enough fingers, but needs two hands.   Ask him how many championships he has won in 3 years at Frankford High and, whoa, up go five fingers on one hand and two on the other!   Not bad, eh?   Public League Title No. 7 came yesterday at La Salle University as Farina, a 6-1, 220-pound senior righthander, pitched a seven-hitter with 10 strikeouts to lead the Pioneers past Northeast, 6-4.   If you're scoring at home, Farina boasts two crowns in baseball, three in wrestling and two in football. He played just 2 years of football, so his only empty moment came in baseball, when Frankford dropped a 2002 semifinal to the eventual champion, Girard Academic Music Program.   In overall PL play, counting regular-season and playoff contests, he will leave Oxford and Wakeling with 97 wins in 99 chances. He also, undoubtedly, will long remember the words whispered in his ear by coach Bob Peffle during the postgame celebration.   "Joe, you've been the player of all players."   No doubt there.   "All people have to do," Peffle said later, "is look at the ride Joe's taken us on. The great thing about Joe is, he's smart enough to know, and say, that he hasn't done this alone. But he's been 'The One.' He's been 'The Man.' His run has been incredible. He's the ultimate competitor.   "Going in, you knew this game would be close. With respect to Northeast and their pitcher, Andrew Lihotz, who I like a whole lot, I'll take my chances giving the ball to Joe Farina on the last day."   Mentor and Prodigy are extremely close. Peffle, who's also Frankford's wrestling coach, drives Farina home for two-thirds of each school year.   "Just us two," Peffle said. "We've talked about so many things. He's a special, special young man."   Farina, committed to East Stroudsburg for baseball, and a school leader in many areas, is an emotional player. Peffle said some of their talks, especially in Joe's younger days, centered on the between-the-ears maturation process.   Farina needed to again maintain his composure in this one. Joe as a freshman attended Northeast, where his brother, R.J., was a productive starter for two PL baseball titlists, and some folks have never forgiven him for transferring.   More than once yesterday, "Traitor!" was bellowed from the stands near the first-base dugout. There were other juicy comments, too.   "My last game against Northeast. One last time to get that 'fire feeling,'" Farina said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to bring that with me to college. This was the way they wanted it. The way I wanted it. We came out on top.   "I heard those kids. I know half of them. I knew why they were doing it. It gave me more of a fire."   He paused, then added, "I thought it was quite funny, actually. Weird how they know everything about me. My address. My SAT score. Where I work. Pretty freaky, when you think about it. I wasn't worried. I had backup."   Even from afar.   Afterward, in a voice choked with emotion, assistant Juan Namnun mentioned how ex-Pioneer Ed Durfor, the Daily News Player of the Year in 2000, had twice called Frankford to wish everyone good luck.   He's in the Army. In Baghdad.   "He didn't get us the first time and left a message with a secretary," Namnun said. "Then, just before we were leaving to come here, he called again and got us.   continued right below . . .

SEASON BY SEASON Public League 1989: 4-8 1990: 7-5 1991: 8-4  1992: 12-1 1993: 8-6 1994: 5-9 1995: 8-6  1996: 10-4 1997: 13-1 1998: 11-3 1999: 10-4  2000: 11-3  2001: 11-4 2002: 14-0 2003: 13-0 2004: 12-1 2005: 16-0 2006: 12-2 2007: 12-2 Total: 197-62 Overall: Unavailable --- PUBLIC LEAGUE TITLES 2000 2003 2004 2005 2007 -- LINEUPS OF TITLE TEAMS 2000 Ed Durfor, p Russ Pizzo, 2b Jim Connolly, c Steve Jones, 1b Tom DiBello, ss Joe Manini, dh Mike Tritz, rf Matt Colon, lf Brian Coulter, cf   Glenn LaBadie, 3b 2003 Matt Colon, cf Adam Hartman, c Joe Farina, p Carlos Rivera, 3b Cory Shaeffer, ss Howard Sherman, 2b Andrew Bracero, rf Ramon Reyes, dh Jeff Newman, lf   Geoff Minetola, 1b 2004 Andrew Bracero, lf Carlos Rosado, c Joe Farina, p Cory Shaeffer, ss Richard Jimenez, 2b Ramon Reyes, dh Carlos Masip, rf Jeff Newman, 3b Geoff Minetola, 1b   Matt Romanusky, cf 2005 Andrew Bracero, lf Luis Alicea, ss Carlos Rosado, 2b Richard Jimenez, 3b Juan Carlos Torres, 1b Ramon Reyes, c Edwin Burgos, cf Kelinton Tejada, p Pat Lewis, rf 2007 Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche, p Jeffry Bru, 2b Edwin "Tito" Rohena, cf Kevin Roche, 1b Robinson Rodriguez, c Dave Doggett, 3b Jon Bracero, ss Daniel Rodriguez, dh Frank Donato, lf   Jose Gueits, rf

   "Ed's getting shot at every day and he's thinking about us. His calls meant so much to our kids. Relaxed them. Put things
in perspective. I could see it on our kids' faces during the national anthem. They were thinking about Ed. And our country."
  Farina surrendered two runs in the first inning and one apiece in the fifth and seventh. With the bases still loaded in the
fifth, he needed just six pitches to strike out Lihotz and Chris McNamee and keep the score at 6-3.
  Lihotz and Northeast had dealt Farina his only PL regular-season setback, by a 5-1 score on May 5.
  Brandon O'Malley smacked an RBI triple deep to centerfield with one out in the seventh. Farina retired Bryan Adamson
on a foul popup and Lihotz on a grounder, third baseman Jeff Newman to first baseman Geoff Minetola.
  The players congregated to go berserk. The infield was not exactly crowded.
  Frankford began the season with 11 varsity players. One quit barely into league play. Peffle promoted three JV players for
 the playoffs, but their chances of seeing action, barring an emergency, were nil. Peffle never even bothered to use courtesy
runners for his pitcher and catcher.
  "Yeah, just 10 guys," he said, smiling. "But they were a good 10. The right 10. "
  The others: leftfielder Andrew Bracero, catcher Carlos Rosado, shortstop Cory Shaeffer, second baseman Richard Jimenez,
DH Ramon Reyes, rightfielder Carlos Masip and centerfielder Matt Romanusky.
  The Vikings killed themselves with seven errors. Five came on throws. Frankford had just one RBI on a hit, a single by
Jimenez. He and Shaeffer got runs home with sacrifice flies and Farina did so via a bases-loaded walk.
  When asked to name his proudest high school sporting moment, Farina went with the '04 wrestling final.
  "We beat Northeast in that one, too," he said.  "You've got 1,000 people screaming your name. The gym's erupting. It's like
a movie."
  As if his whole time at Frankford was not.

This story was written after Bob won his fifth and final Pub crown in 2007 . . .

By Ted Silary
  TO ALTER AN old saying . . . Great things come to someone who's mostly idle while he waits.
  Ask Kevin Roche about his batting average for Frankford High in the 2006 baseball season and there's not exactly a need
for a calculator. Not even a need for simple division.
  Not only did Roche collect no hits, he logged no official at-bats because his one plate appearance resulted in a base on balls.
  Is that any way for an inexperienced junior, mostly added to the roster for fleshing-out purposes, to prepare for a big
senior season? Apparently so.
  The Pioneers are again the Public League champion - for the fifth time in the last eight seasons, in fact - and Roche, now
a 6-1, 235-pound first baseman with a sweet swing and an even better outlook on life, deserves the chance to brag as much
as anyone . . . Not that he ever would.
  As Frankford yesterday outlasted Central, 7-5, at Campbell's Field in Camden, to assure that coach Bob Peffle will stroll
into retirement with one last title, Roche made big contributions again and again.
  At bat, the cleanup hitter tapped out to the mound the first time. But he then offered a two-run single to left, an RBI
double to left-center that short-hopped the fence, and another one-run single on a medium-hard ball along the leftfield line.
Grand total: 3-for-4 with four RBI.
  Also, with two runs home and the tying run at the plate, Roche ended the game by trotting over to Central's dugout, along
the first-base side, to catch a foul popup. His spikes wound up skidding on the concrete right after he gloved the ball and
he tumbled part way down the steps.
  "I'm OK. Didn't get hurt," Roche said.
  In 2006, neither did his ego.
  "I wasn't a good hitter. Wasn't too good at anything," Roche said. "I understood why I wasn't playing. Some good
players were in front of me. I just tried to get better."
  When Roche was asked whether he expected to get a chance in '07, he laughed and said, "I hoped."
  Roche (row-shay) was born in Puerto Rico and later lived in South Carolina. He never thought of playing baseball for
Frankford until asked by Peffle, who had him in class, about halfway through last season.
  "Hey, the way our numbers are, we're always looking for players," Peffle said. "The thing about Kevin was, he kept
improving. His hard work got him to this point. He learned every day.
  "He started off having a long, pull-off-the-ball swing. We told him, 'Look middle-out. React in. Throw your hands. Stay
short.' He's as strong as an ox. For the last half of this season, he has been terrific. Driving in mega runs."
  Peffle added that Roche and the winning pitcher, junior righthander Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche, are his no-doubt-about-it
team leaders and that they share a love for something way beyond baseball.
  "I'd bet they're in church three times a week aside from Sunday," Peffle said. "And you know what Kevin has
imbedded into the side of his class ring? A cross and a Bible."
  Cross. That's what Roche was with himself after his first at-bat was unproductive. Then he began boppin' and his
teammates followed suit.
  His first hit tied the score at 2-2 in the second. Frank Donato and Meletiche lashed RBI doubles in the fourth for a 4-2
count, ropes by Roche and Jon Bracero (single) made it 6-2 in the fifth, then Roche - yup, him again - added one more in
the sixth for a 7-3 count.
  "Mr. Peffle stayed with me. He brought me along," Roche said. "When you have a great coach - more than a coach, a
man who's like a father figure - that's what you can do, improve in all your skills.
  "When you don't do nice in your first at-bat, that makes you even hungrier for the rest of them. I kept telling myself,
'Stay calm. Do your job. Get those runs in. Help us win. ' "
  Said Meletiche: "Kevin gets us started a lot. You see him get nice hits and show excitement, it makes you want to follow
right along."
  Off their teams' semifinal victories, Meletiche and senior righthander Jared Farbman were working on 4 days' rest.
Farbman (seven hits, six earned runs, five strikeouts) yielded to Micah Winterstein after hits by Edwin "Tito" Rohena and
Roche began the fifth. Meletiche yielded six hits and fanned 10; two of the runs were unearned.
  This game also decided the District 12 Class AAAA playoff berth; Frankford will host a first-round game Monday
against the District 1 third-place finisher at a site in the city to be determined.
  Tomorrow, West Chester East will play Council Rock North with the winner to play Frankford.
  Tom Capewell and Zack King opened Central's seventh with singles. They later scored as Zach Magdovitz hit into a
fielder's choice and Farbman sent a popup to shallow center that became a sacrifice fly for the second out. Aaron
Esbensen's foul popup to Roche ended it.
  In the last six seasons, Frankford is 100-7 against PL opponents, including playoffs.
  Some of Frankford's spirited rooters, a group including many recent players, ran onto the field to celebrate. Once those
folks were shooed back to the stands, the trophy presentation was held and Peffle was surrounded by still and TV
cameramen.
  Nearby, sub Sean Henderson and the injured Jose Burgos, using his left arm (he dislocated his right shoulder diving for
a liner in rightfield at the very start of the semifinal win over Girard Academic Music Program), held a bucket of ice and
water, waiting not so patiently for the chance to douse.
  It finally came. Perfect aim, guys.
  "You always want to win a championship," Meletiche said. "And from the time [roughly a month ago] coach Peffle
said he was retiring, we thought of nothing but this - letting him go out with another.
  "Now I'm happy . . . I'm excited . . . and I'm glad. "
  Three-for-three. Batting 1.000. On this day, Kevin Roche came pretty darn close to that very same average.

This story was written in 2007 after a state playoff setback ended Bob's career . . . 

By Ted Silary
  BOB PEFFLE made it fine through the postgame talk with his players.
  Then, he even breezed through most of a question-answer session with three reporters.
  But moments after the words "I'm going out a happy camper" tumbled out of his mouth, those that followed for about
a 30-second period were spoken in little more than a whisper, and there was a definite moisture sighting at the inner side
of his left eye.
  After a 19-year career featuring numerous highs, Bob Peffle is no longer the baseball coach at Frankford High.
  The end came yesterday at La Salle University as the Pioneers, the Public League/District 12 champion, fell to West
Chester East, the third-place squad in District 1, 14-0, in five innings, in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA state
playoffs.
  The bright spot was, Peffle's last game produced a touching first.
  As the teams came off the field, second-base umpire Jim Scott held up a brand-new baseball and expressed a desperate
need for a pen.
  After securing one and saying, "This day isn't about this loss; it's about what we've lost," a reference to the overall
Pub baseball family, Scott made a beeline for Peffle. He wanted his autograph, in addition to a hug. Two-for-two.
  "That was nice of Scotty. He's been a good friend, and a class act," Peffle said.
  Peffle, a middle-infield product of Frankford (class of 1965) and Temple, said he had not signed a ball since his days
as a Houston Astros farmhand.
  "You know how that goes," he said, laughing. "Little kids want everybody's autograph. They don't even know who
they're asking. "
  He added "I have a lot of autographed balls, though. Those are some of the special things you get from your players
through the years."
  Peffle produced five Pub champs (all in the last eight seasons), along with three other squads that lost in finals and
six others that advanced as far as the semifinals.
  His total baseball record against Pub opposition in the 19 seasons was 235-76, with a 38-14 mark in playoffs. Over
his final 11 seasons, the numbers were 153-29 and 31-6.
  In wrestling, Frankford has captured the last 11 Pub titles, and Peffle was the coach for all but 2006's (hip-replacement
surgery). He also has coached La Salle High's soccer team for 20 seasons. He owns five Catholic League titles in that
sport, and he even won a soccer crown at a suburban school (Plymouth-Whitemarsh, 1985).
  Although he is retiring as a teacher-coach from Frankford (assistant Juan Namnun will take over the baseball team),
he will continue to guide La Salle's soccer team.
  "To be able to go to Frankford, then get back to teach and coach; not everybody's that fortunate," he said.
  He said of this season: "When I remember what these guys looked like during our first practice, and then our
scrimmages in Florida . . . I scratched my head and said, 'Oh, my goodness. ' In our first game, we must have had
10 passed balls. "
  This one, admittedly, included too much sloppy play.
  The Pioneers committed seven errors and were roughed up for 12 runs (five, then seven) in the first two innings.
Three more in the third would have enabled WC East to cause termination by the 15-run rule.
  Sophomore righthander Edwin "Tito" Rohena, who replaced junior righthander Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche in the
midst of the second-inning outburst, was able to ring up a 1-2-3 third.
  At least a hint of consolation.
  "Exactly," Peffle said. "I told the kids, 'Let's play this thing out. ' You try to show character with bits and pieces
[of positive play] and put together what you can, especially after that start. 'Take this game five innings. Have a
little pride.' "
  Frankford collected three hits, hard singles to left by Meletiche and Rohena in the first and third, respectively, and
Jon Bracero's infield single deep behind third in the fourth. No one advanced past second base.
  WC East bagged 15 hits, and maybe two were not laced. Catcher Bob Jacobs added the exclamation point in the
fifth inning with a two-run homer to exact left-center over a fence at least 20 feet high. Ryan McCafferty had three
RBI in the first two innings.
  "When they did hit balls where we could have made plays and minimized damage, we didn't," Peffle said. "Things
just snowballed. That's a good team. They're where they are for a reason. "
  He added: "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not going out on a sour note with these guys. These young fellows have
given me a terrific ride."
  One last thought from Jim Scott . . .
  "For me," he said, "it's not going to be the same."

  Below are the players who earned first or second team Coaches' All-Public honors during Bob Peffle's
19 seasons (1989-2007) as the coach at Frankford.

Pos.	FIRST TEAM	Year.	Pos.	SECOND TEAM	Year
1B	Ron Honeyford	1991	INF	Brian Fricker	1990
DH	John Stinsman	1991	DH	Ron Honeyford	1990
SS	John Stinsman	1992	P	Bob Dittman	1991
OF	Tom Sullivan	1992	2B	Hamid Nasrat	1992
P	Bob Dittman	1992	2B	Pat Zolk	1993
P	Tom Sullivan	1993	INF	Pat Zolk	1994
INF	Dan Campbell	1996	OF	Lovato Bowman	1994
INF	Bobby Granata	1996	OF	Lovato Bowman	1995
OF	Pat O'Neal	1996	P	Juan Namnun	1995
P	Fred Ewing	1996	1B	Manuel DeLaRosa	1996
1B	Manuel DeLaRosa	1997	INF	Bill McKeen	1996
INF	Bill McKeen	1997	INF	Ryan McGovern	1997
P	Dennis Boyles	1997	C	Matt Alturo	1997
1B	Dennis Boyles	1998	P	Phil Wilson	1999
INF	Ryan McGovern	1998	INF	Tom DiBello	2001
OF	Tim Neal	1998	OF	Matt Colon	2001
OF	Jack Redfern	1998	P	Glenn LaBadie	2001
INF	Ryan McGovern	1999	C	Ambioris Puntier	2002
OF	Ed Durfor	1999	OF	Andrew Bracero	2004
DH	Jim Connolly	1999	P	Richard Jimenez	2004
1B	Ed Durfor	2000	C	Ramon Reyes	2005
INF	Steve Jones	2000	OF	Edwin Burgos	2005
C	Jim Connolly	2000	OF	Kelinton Tejada	2005
INF	Joe Manini	2002	INF	Richard Jimenez	2006
INF	Glenn LaBadie	2002	P	Edwin Rohena	2006
OF	Matt Colon	2002	INF	Jon Bracero	2007
P	Dave Firth	2002	DH	Jose Burgos	2007
DH	Joe Farina	2002
INF	Cory Shaeffer	2003
C	Matt Colon	2003
P	Joe Farina	2003
P	Carlos Rivera	2003
INF	Cory Shaeffer	2004
INF	Carlos Rosado	2004
P	Joe Farina	2004
1B	Juan Carlos Torres	2005
INF	Luis Alicea	2005
INF	Carlos Rosado	2005
OF	Andrew Bracero	2005
DH	Richard Jimenez	2005
1B	Juan Carlos Torres	2006
INF	Esteban Meletiche	2006
C	Ramon Reyes	2006
OF	Edwin Burgos	2006
INF	Esteban Meletiche	2007
OF	Edwin Rohena	2007
OF	Jeffry Bru	2007

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Recaps of Wins in Public League Championship Games . . . 2000 At La Salle University Frankford 5, GAMP 3     Ed Durfor allowed seven hits, reached base three times (two walks, hit-by-pitch) and stole three bases as Frankford won its first title since 1981. Jim Connolly had two RBI on a groundout and double while Russ Pizzo and Mike Tritz had RBI singles. For GAMP, Joe DeRosa had two doubles and an RBI. 2003 At La Salle University Frankford 3, Northeast 1    Wearing a special batting helmet to protect his nose, broken in the semifinals when he fouled a ball off his face, Matt Colon had a double and scored a run in a two-run third (Adam Hartman followed with an RBI double) and made a running catch in left-center to start a key doubleplay in the fourth. Colon was the catcher all season; he switched positions with Hartman, normally an outfielder. Cory Shaeffer's triple added an insurance run in the sixth. Joe Farina pitched a four-hitter with six strikeouts. Bryan Adamson stroked three of those hits, including a double, and had an RBI. Frankford finished 17-0 against PL opposition (one league game canceled) and 19-0 overall. 2004 At La Salle University Frankford 6, Northeast 4    Joe Farina allowed seven hits, struck out 10, collected two hits and had an RBI on a bases-loaded walk as the Pioneers defended their title. The championship was Farina's seventh in three years at Frankford (three in wrestling, two apiece in baseball and football) and he finished with a 97-2 PL record, including playoffs. Cory Shaeffer and Richard Jimenez had RBI on sacrifice flies. Jimenez added a run-scoring single. Frankford had just 10 varsity players for virtually the entire season. For Northeast, Brandon O'Malley went 2-for-2 with a triple, two walks and an RBI. Chris Steinke and losing pitcher Andrew Lihotz added run-scoring singles. A month earlier, besting Farina, Lihotz had stopped Frankford's PL regular season win streak at 36. 2005 At La Salle University Frankford 9, Central 6    It appeared early the Pioneers might have to go only three innings to earn their third consecutive championship (due to the 15-run rule), as they posted an eight-spot in the very first inning. Juan Carlos Torres, winning pitcher Kelinton Tejada and Andrew Bracero had singles for RBI, Carlos Rosado stroked a two-run single, Richard Jimenez (sacrifice fly) and Pat Lewis (walk) also got runs home and one scored on an error. Trailing 9-3 in the seventh, Central received a two-run homer from Walt King (leftfield; across the driveway and over a hedge) and an RBI single from Joe Tierney before Jimenez, who worked the last two innings, retired reliever Jared Farbman on a popup to end it. King finished 3-for-3 with a walk and his homer. The win upped Frankford's four-year Pub record, counting playoffs, to 69-2. 2007 At Campbell's Field, Camden Frankford 7, Central 5    Senior first baseman Kevin Roche, who made only one plate appearance during the 2006 season (he walked), completed a glorious quarters/semis/final run (12 RBI) by going 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI out of the cleanup spot as the Pioneers assured that coach Bob Peffle would head into retirement with one last title. It was his fifth in eight years, in fact, and Frankford raised its record vs. Pub opposition during the last six seasons, counting playoffs, to 100-7. In his 19 years, Peffle went 235-76 (.756) against Pub opposition with marks of 197-62 (regular season) and 38-14 (playoffs). Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche smacked an RBI double and went the distance, fanning 10. Edwin "Tito" Rohena and Frank Donato (RBI double) halved four hits and as many runs. Losing pitcher Jared Farbman went 2-for-3 and his sac fly drew Central within 7-5 in a two-run seventh. With the tying run on base, Roche caught a foul popup to end the game just before he fell part way down the steps in Central's dugout. He was unhurt.

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