Eugene Lawrence Roof (born January 13, 1958) is a retired

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He played during three seasons at the Major League level for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

Playing career

He was drafted by the Cardinals in the 12th round of the 1976 amateur draft. Roof played his first professional season with their Rookie league

Gulf Coast Cardinals The Florida Complex League Cardinals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Cardinals. The team plays i ...

and

Johnson City Cardinals The Johnson City Cardinals were a Minor League Baseball team based in Johnson City, Tennessee. The team was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1975 through 2020 and played in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. The team won ...

in , and his last with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

' Triple-A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in ...

in . He is the brother of

Phil Roof Philip Anthony Roof (born March 5, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and minor league manager. He played for 15 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball in and from to , most notably for the Kansas City/Oakla ...

and cousin of Eddie Haas. His brothers Adrian, Paul, and David Roof played in the minor leagues.

Coaching career

Since his retirement as a player in 1988, Roof has been a part of the Tigers organization as coach. He served as manager with

Fayetteville Generals The Fayetteville Generals were a minor league baseball team located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The last minor league baseball team to play before the Generals were the Fayetteville Highlanders of the Carolina League, they ceased play aft ...

in 1989,

London Tigers The London Tigers were a professional Double-A Minor League Baseball team that played in the Eastern League from 1989 to 1993. They played at Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, and were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. At the time i ...

in 1991,

from 1997 to 1999, and the

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

in 2000. He had also served as

first base coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

under Tigers manager

Sparky Anderson George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third t ...

from 1992 to 1995. Roof served as the Tigers minor league-wide outfield and base-running coordinator from 2001 until his retirement after the 2020 season.

Personal life

All three of Roof's sons have played professionally. Shawn and

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

were minor leaguers in the Tigers organization, while the youngest, Jonathan, was drafted by the Rangers in 2010. Shawn Roof became a Minor League Baseball manager. Eric Roof became a

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach.

References

External links

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
1958 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arkansas Travelers players Baseball coaches from Kentucky Baseball players from Kentucky Detroit Tigers coaches Gulf Coast Cardinals players Indianapolis Indians players Johnson City Cardinals players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Louisville Redbirds players Major League Baseball outfielders Minor league baseball managers Montreal Expos players Nashville Sounds players Richmond Braves players St. Louis Cardinals players St. Mary High School (Paducah, Kentucky) alumni St. Petersburg Cardinals players Sportspeople from Paducah, Kentucky Springfield Redbirds players Toledo Mud Hens players Gastonia Cardinals players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1950s-stub