VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Photo Courtesy Boston Red Sox

South Burlington 

Multi-sport (baseball) 

Inducted 2025 

An outstanding three-sport athlete at South Burlington High in the early ‘80s, Mike Rochford went on to reach the major leagues, pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

He is the first and only Vermont high school product to be selected in the Major League Draft and then reach the major leagues. A left handed pitcher, Rochford was selected by the Red Sox in the first round of the 1982 January Draft and went on to appear in eight games over three big league seasons for from 1988 to 1990.

Rochford played football, basketball and baseball at South Burlington, starting in at least three seasons in each. Highlights include an 11-0 record on mound as a senior pitching the Rebels to 1981 Division I state title. He played four years of varsity basketball scoring 1026 career points leading SB in 1981 to 20-3 record and the D1 semifinals at Patrick Gym. A three-year standout at quarterback, as a junior he led South Burlington to the 1979 state championship, the school's first in Division I.

He pitched in the summer of 1981 for the Burlington Expos of the Northern League, an amateur collegiate league made up of teams from Vermont and New Hampshire, and a Florida teammate recommended the hard throwing lefty to attend Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla.  He was noticed by Red Sox scouts that fall and Boston selected him in the January Amateur Draft, the first round selection is the highest ever by a Vermont high school or college prospect.  He signed with the Red Sox after his juco season and his first stop was in 1982 with Elmira in the New York Penn League. 

Rochford had tremendous success in the minor leagues and after two and a half solid seasons at Triple A Pawtucket, he was called up to the Red Sox in September of 1988, in the midst of Boston’s AL East championship season. He made his debut on September 3rd appearing in relief in a tight game in Anaheim against the California Angels. He started the next two seasons with the Pawsox and was called up to the big leagues in each of those two seasons. He finished his pro career in 1990 pitching nine games for the Yakult Swallows in the Japan PCL.

After retirement he became a golf teaching pro starting at Sugarbush before moving to Florida where he was a golf pro in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

The first and only baseball player from SBHS to reach the major leagues, he was inducted into the South Burlington High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He joins legends Larry Gardner of Enosburg Falls and Ray Collins of Colchester as VSHOF inductees who played for the Boston Red Sox.