Excerpt from “Your 1948 Houston Buffs, Dixie Champions: Brief Biographies By Morris Frank and Adie Marks (1948).
Outfielder/1st Baseman Roy Huff (6’1″, 180 lbs.) (BL/T?) was born on April 22, 1924 in Marceline, Missouri. He lived there until age 16, when the family moved to Martinez, California. The following year, 1941, Roy began a nine season minor league career (1941-42, 1946-52) in which he batted a reasonable .270 with 74 homers. In between, Huff served thee years in the Navy during WWII (1943-45).
In 1948, his only season as a Buff, Roy Huff batted .230 with 3 HR in 252 times at bat for Houston. His best season was 1942 when he batted .320 for Class D Hamilton with 8 HR. His next best season, or maybe his best overall, was 1950 when he hit .302 with 18 HR for Class A Omaha.
Baseball Reference has no recollection of his throwing arm side and neither do I. Sorry to admit it, but beyond a blurry recognition of his name, my personal memories of this ancient Buff named Huff are almost missing from the memory of my second season as a kid baseball fan.
Baseball Reference also lists Roy Huff as alive today at age 89. I tried to verify that conclusion with findagrave.com, but could pull up nothing to show that he may be deceased as of 2013. We shall keep an eye and ear and digital search close at hand for further data on Roy Huff of the 1948 Houston Buffs. For now, he looks simply like another short-term member of the minor league passing parade from long ago.
We still respect him for having given part of his early life to the game we all love. Without the Roy Huffs of this world, there would be no more famous baseball history stories to write.
Thanks for the good, the bad, and the ugly, Roy Huff. None of us would have much to look back upon as baseball were it not for the passionate pursuits of reserve clause era guys like you.
Tags: Houston Buff Biographies, Roy Huff
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