Bill White (first baseman)

For other uses, see Bill White (disambiguation).

Bill White
First baseman
Born: (1934-01-28) January 28, 1934 Lakewood, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
May 7, 1956, for the New York Giants
Last MLB appearance
September 24, 1969, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Batting average	.286
Home runs	202
Runs batted in	870
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
New York / San Francisco Giants (1956, 1958) St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1965) Philadelphia Phillies (1966–1968) St. Louis Cardinals (1969)
Career highlights and awards
8× All-Star (1959–1961², 1963, 1964) World Series champion (1964) 7× Gold Glove Award (1960–1966) St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame

William DeKova White (born January 28, 1934) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York / San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies. He was an eight-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner who earned a championship as a top contributor in the 1964 World Series.

White became a full-time sportscaster after his playing career ended in 1969 and was the play-by-play man and color analyst for New York Yankees television and radio broadcasts for 18 years.

In 1989, White was elected President of the National League to replace Bart Giamatti, who succeeded Peter Ueberroth as Commissioner. White served as NL president until he retired in 1994.

Early life and education

White was born on January 28, 1934 in Lakewood, Florida. When White was 3, his mother and grandmother moved to Warren, Ohio, where they lived in a segrated housing project. White's mother worked to support the family, and he was raised by his grandmother.

White graduated from Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio in 1952, and was both president and salutatorian of his class. Because White was African American, Harding's principal ended the school tradition of the class president dancing with the prom queen (who was white that year).

He then stayed in-state to attend Hiram College from 1953 to 1955. He chose the school because of its pre-med program. In both high school and college, White lettered in baseball, basketball, and football.

Playing career

White was scouted by major league baseball teams, including the New York Giants. He tried out for Giants manager Leo Durocher. The Giants offered White $1,000 to sign with them. After they raised the offer to $2,500 he signed with the Giants. He put his plans for becoming a doctor on hold, to see if he could make it into major league baseball in 3-4 years.

As a minor-leaguer, White was the second black American to play for a Carolina League team – the Danville Leafs (1953). Percy Miller Jr. broke the color barrier for that league in 1951.

In his 13-season major league career, White batted .286 with 202 home runs and 870 RBIs in 1,673 games. His best statistical year came in 1963 when he posted career highs with 200 hits, 106 runs scored, 27 home runs, and 109 RBIs. White was a consistent performer, particularly during the 1962-64 seasons. During those three seasons, he had highly productive and notably consistent numbers for hits (199, 200, 191), runs (93, 106, 92), home runs (20, 27, 21), runs batted in (102, 109, 102), and average (.324, .304, .303). During the 1964 Cardinals championship season, White placed third in the league MVP voting for his overall seasonal performance yet had a subpar postseason, batting only .111 (3–27 with 2 RBI) in the World Series. A capable baserunner, White stole 12 or more bases four times. He was also one of the top defensive first basemen of his time, winning seven straight Gold Glove Awards (1960–66). White hit for the cycle on August 14, 1960 and once hit three home runs in a game, on July 5, 1961. Also in July 1961, White tied Ty Cobb's 49-year Major League record by collecting 14 hits in consecutive doubleheaders, both against the Chicago Cubs at Sportsman's Park, going 4-for-5 in both games on July 17 and 3-for-4 in both games the very next day. Ironically, the first doubleheader was played on the same day Cobb died and 49 years to the day after Cobb collected eight hits to begin his feat.

Broadcasting career

White earned a sports program on KMOX radio in St. Louis while he was still playing for the Cardinals. Following a trade to the Phillies, he did a program there. After ending his playing career, White became a sportscaster for WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV) in Philadelphia, concurrent with the launch of the station's long-running Action News format. While in Philadelphia, White became the first African-American to broadcast NHL games when he called several games of the Philadelphia Flyers.

In 1971, White joined the New York Yankees' broadcast team. He called Yankee games from 1971 to 1988, most often teamed with Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer. White did the team's broadcasts on both radio and television during most of that stretch. White was the first regular black play-by-play announcer for a major-league sports team.

On New York City radio, White was featured on WMCA from 1971 to 1977, after which the Yankees switched over to WINS. In 1981, the Yankee broadcast team moved over to WABC. On television, White worked with Rizzuto and Messer on WPIX.

Nationally, White helped call several World Series for CBS Radio (1976, 1977, 1978, 1987, and 1988) and did sports reports for the network. White worked as a Monday Night Baseball announcer for ABC television in the late 1970s. He also did pre-game reports for ABC's coverage of the Yankee Stadium games in the 1977 World Series, and handled the post-game trophy presentation for the network after the Yankees clinched the world title in the sixth game.

WPIX and its usual Rizzuto-Messer-White broadcast trifecta carried the ALCS in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981, providing New York viewers a local alternative to the nationally broadcast telecasts. The most famous highlight with White on play-by-play was the Bucky Dent three-run home run during the one-game playoff between the Yankees and Red Sox in 1978 on WPIX.

Outside of baseball, White was also part of the coverage of the Winter Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984.

The Yankee organization showed their appreciation following his years in the broadcast booth when they selected him to receive their Pride of the Yankees Award in 1990.

National League president and retirement

White was elected to replace Giamatti as National League president in 1989 in a unanimous vote, becoming the first black executive to hold such a high position in sports. He served as NL president through 1994. In his autobiography, he later expressed the concern that he had about having been more of a figurehead while NL president, but he also said that he managed to accomplish some of the goals that he originally had when he took the job.

For several years, beginning just after his retirement from the NL, White was a member of the Veterans Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame. White, along with fellow newcomers to the committee Yogi Berra, a longtime Phil Rizzuto teammate and Rizzuto's top rival and stand-out shortstop for the perennial pennant-winning NL Brooklyn Dodgers, Pee Wee Reese, were noted for having helped swing the vote in favor of the Yankee shortstop's candidacy during their first year on the committee.

In 2011, White released his autobiography entitled Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play.

On May 22, 2020, White was elected to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame along with Tom Herr and John Tudor.

Personal Life

Before White was inducted into the US Army, he married his high school sweetheart, Mildred Hightower, on November 20, 1956. They would have five children before they divorced in the 1980s. White currently resides in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball players with a home run in their first major league at bat
• List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle

Further reading

• Hill, Justice B. (January 29, 2007). "White has enjoyed diverse career and made several contributions to baseball". baseballhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007 – via Wayback Machine.
• White, Bill (2011). Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play. with Gordon Dillow. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0446555258.

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Bill White at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
• Bill White at IMDb