Jeoff Long

Jeoffrey Keith Long was born on October 9, 1941. He grew up in northern Kentucky and graduated from high school in Erlanger before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1959. A right-handed thrower and hitter, he stood 6 feet 1 inch and weighed about 200 pounds. His early professional path started on the mound before his bat redirected his career.

As a pitcher in his first two minor league seasons Long went 2-14 in 45 games. In 1961 he converted to first base. The following year, with the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League, he hit 30 home runs and established himself as a power prospect.

St. Louis recalled him in July 1963. He appeared five times as a pinch hitter that year and recorded one hit. In 1964 he stayed with the Cardinals into early July as a pinch hitter and occasional first baseman and right fielder, including a four-hit weekend against Milwaukee that included his only MLB home run. On July 7 the Cardinals sold him to the Chicago White Sox to clear a roster spot for Mike Shannon. Eight days later he injured his knee sliding on a wet Fenway Park outfield. He appeared in only two more starts that season for Chicago, played sparingly in 1965, missed three full seasons while rehabbing, and retired after a short 1969 minor league return. Career MLB totals: 56 games, 16 hits.

After leaving professional baseball, Long joined Cincinnati Drum Service, his family's business. He remained connected to the northern Kentucky communities around Erlanger and Elsmere. Detailed public accounts of his family life are limited in the sources used for this memorial. His SABR biography by Rory Costello documents his playing career and conversion from pitcher to position player.

Jeoff Long died in Elsmere, Kentucky, on September 25, 2026, at the age of 84. English Wikipedia and contemporary sports reporting recorded the date and place. No widely published cause of death was available in the sources consulted for this page. He was remembered as a Kentucky-signed Cardinals prospect whose major league window was cut short by a 1964 knee injury at Fenway Park.

Long's story is that of a mid-1960s Cardinals and White Sox utility man whose power bat in Tulsa never fully translated to a long major league career after a serious knee injury. Baseball-Reference and the SABR Baseball Biography Project preserve his 56-game ledger and the unusual path from failing pitcher to 30-home-run minor league slugger. For fans of the 1963 and 1964 Cardinals and the White Sox of that summer, he remains a footnote of roster moves that made room for Mike Shannon and of a wet night in Boston that changed a young player's future.