Federoff was born in Bairdford, Pennsylvania, and was Jewish.[3] He attended Bairdford High School in Bairdford, Pennsylvania, graduated from Etna High School in Etna, Pennsylvania, and attended Duquesne University for two years.[4][5] He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg) as an active player. His playing career extended from 1946 through 1959, with another decade spent as a minor league manager (1960–61; 1963–70). Most of his career was spent with the Tigers: he signed with Detroit in 1946, played for seven seasons in their farm system, and then managed in that system for nine more years during the 1960s. As a skipper, his teams won two league championships. He was a Tigers' scout in 1962.