Gene Roof

Who is Gene Roof?

Eugene Lawrence Roof is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder. He played during three seasons at the major league level for the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos. 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 and Johnson City Cardinals in 1976, and his last with the Detroit Tigers' Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in 1987. He is the brother of Phil Roof and cousin of Eddie Haas. His brothers Adrian, Paul, and David Roof played in the minor leagues.

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 in 1989, London Tigers in 1991, Toledo Mud Hens from 1997-1999, and the Jacksonville Suns in 2000. He had also served as first base coach under Tigers manager Sparky Anderson from 1992-1995.

Since 2001, Roof has served as the Tigers minor league-wide outfield and base-running coordinator.

All three of Roof's sons currently play professionally. Shawn and Eric are minor leaguers in the Tigers organization, while the youngest, Jonathan, was drafted by the Rangers in 2010.