Joe McGuff

Joseph T. McGuff

• School Marquette University

• Born August 15, 1926 in Tulsa, OK USA
• Died February 4, 2006 in Prairie Village, KS USA

Biographical Information

After attending Marquette University and an Army discharge, Joe McGuff began a Hall of Fame career at the Tulsa World. In 1948, he joined the Kansas City Star, the paper where he would work for the next 44 years.

He covered the Kansas City Blues, including a young Mickey Mantle, until Kansas City wooed the A's in 1955. At age 28, McGuff became the youngest beat writer in the country.

In 1967, the A's left for Oakland, CA. McGuff used his column, and contacts around the American League, to procure a club in the Expansion of 1969. McGuff was considered by many the driving force to get the Royals for Kansas City.

McGuff was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1985. He was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch of the seventh game of the 1985 World Series. He retired from The Star in 1992.

In 1999, McGuff was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. The illness would take his life in 2006.