Bobby Goff: Baseball Pioneer
This article was written by Howard Green
This article was published in Texas is Baseball Country (SABR 24, 1994)
Bobby Goff was a hardy pioneer during the developing years of minor league baseball in the Southwest and elsewhere.
Few in number are the ones for whom the game meant as much. Baseball was his focal point when he reported to Sulphur Springs as a rookie second baseman in the East Texas League. From that day until July 21, 1972, when Goff was honored by then-Mayor Wes Wise on “Dallas Night” at Arlington Stadium for 50 years of diamond service and beyond, the longtime Dallas County resident was a baseball fixture.
Goff played and managed in 10 different leagues and 11 different cities. Charlie Metro, one-time major league player and manager, remembers Goff’s 1938 tenure as manager of the Johnstown, Pa., Middle Atlantic League team owned by the St. Louis Browns. The Johnstown squad was holding a tryout camp as (later NL umpire) Augie Donatelli and Metro left their jobs as Western Pennsylvania coal miners to seek a new life. Goff signed them for a whopping $60 per month, and Metro recalls, “We were damn glad to get it!”
Goff’s leadership began at Palestine, Texas, in the deep Depression of 1934 in the West Dixie League, organized by J. Walter Morris. Goff stayed at Palestine for three seasons.
Other managerial stops came at East Texas League Tyler (1939-40) and Lafayette, Louisiana, in the 1937 and 1941 Evangeline Leagues.
He received a self-described 1931 “cup of coffee” with the Chicago White Sox after playing stops at Bridgeport, Connecticut; Atlanta; and Oklahoma City before launching his bench staffing career.
Goff was a scout for both the St. Louis Browns (1942-46) and Cleveland Indians during the last 15 years of his active baseball career. He received a World Series ring for his contributions to the Browns’ AL pennant and brought in Bob Muncrief and Jack Jakucki to anchor the Browns’ pitching staff. That made the difference in St. Louis’s last American League flag. Later, Goff signed University of Texas product Max Alvis and many others for the majors.
High-profile Dallas owner Dick Burnett lured Goff away from Wichita Falls in 1948 to serve as the new general manager. Together they brought stability to an important Texas League franchise. On opening day, 1950, the Dallas nine drew a then minor league-record 57,000-plus fans for a special game played at the Cotton Bowl.
In 1922 Goff teamed with 24-year National League umpiring veteran Lee Ballanfant as an effective double play combination for the Federal Reserve Bank team which won the Dallas city title. Ballanfant also persuaded Goff to join him at a tryout in Sulphur Springs.
Not only did Goff meet his future wife, but he also began a 50-year baseball career. The couple’s four daughters all earned college degrees and followed their father’s career with special attention.