Gary Roop was the San Antonio Keys first round draft pick (12th overall) in the 1966 amateur draft. The hard working and likable (though not terribly bright) Roop was in a big league uniform a few years later and had his best season in 1970 when he had a slash line of .284/.376/.461 with a 5.3 WAR and his career best 20 home runs. His career was somewhat curtailed by a series of injuries, the most serious being a ruptured Achilles tendon that put him out of commission for 8 months starting at the end of August in the 1967 season. Then last season he was eclipsed by Bud Lindsay, the 11th pick in the 1969 draft by the Keys, who has emerged as a superstar in the league.
Today it was announced that Roop intends to donate one of his kidneys to his ailing brother. The process will require a good deal of recovery time for both patients and it was further announced that Roop has no intention of returning to the ball diamonds as a professional baseball player once recovered, thus ending his once promising career.