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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Column Feature Tom Powers: Baseball lifer Phil Roof enjoys fleeting fling in majors - TwinCities.com

Tom Powers: Baseball lifer Phil Roof enjoys fleeting fling in majors - TwinCities.com



Phil Roof, 2014 Photo











(photo, above right: Roof, 1974 Twins Yearbook, vs Jorge Orta, White Sox)

Tom Powers did a marvelous job with his piece today in the St. Paul Pioneer Press today on great Twins catcher Phil Roof.  My memory of Phil comes from his batting exhibition against his old battery mate, Jim Kaat in a game from Sunday, Sept. 9, 1973.  Kitty had gone over to the White Sox earlier that season; I recall Herb Carneal's radio call on Roofie's big hit (below):
"...Here's the pitch...swung on and it's a high drive going back, back - way WAY back out there - and it's OFF THE WALL in deep left field! Roof rounding second, on his way to third, and he goes in standing up with a triple! Boy, he really put the wood to that one, about 385 feet off that left-centerfield wall here at the Met...!"
From Roof's Oakland Athletic days: bovine
skills revisited for the farm kid from Kentucky.
 Herb went on to give some background of Roof's and Kaat's friendship, of how the lefty was trying his best to strike Phil out, while the defensive-minded catcher was doing everything he could to get a big knock of Kaat.


(B&Wphoto: Roof with fans, 1972 Twins Yearbook) Another image, probably from the same year, is a post-game interview Phil did with Twins legendary broadcaster, Ray Scott.  I don't remember what Roof did in that particular game (most likely, it didn't involve hitting), but I mainly recall Scott's last question:
Scott: "Still living in Paducah?" [twinkly smile in his eyes]
Roof: "Still living in Paducah." [smile returned in kind]
A pleasure reading Powers' column!

As Herb used to say:
"...and the count rides along..."
TT

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