Bill White (baseball player)
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William De Kova White (born January 28, 1934 in Lakewood, Florida) is a former sportscaster and Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the New York and San Francisco Giants (1956, 1958), St. Louis Cardinals (1959-65, 1969) and Philadelphia Phillies (1966-68). He went on to serve as president of the National League from 1989 to 1994.
As a minor-leaguer, White was the second black player to ever 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 RBI in 1673 games. He also was considered one of the top defensive first basemen of his time, winning seven successive Gold Glove Awards (1960-66). White batted and threw lefthanded.
White didn't really HAVE to move to move on to a career as a sportscaster, because he had a sports program on KMOX while he was still playing for the Cardianals. After he was traded to the Phillies, he did a program there.doing some non play-by-play work in Philadelphia, White joined the New York Yankees broadcast crew. He called Yankee games from 1971 to 1988, primarily with Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer - doing radio as well as television during most of that stretch. He was the first African-American to do play-by-play regularly for a major-league sports team.
On New York City radio, he was 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 spent all of his Yankee years announcing the Bronx Bombers with Rizzuto and Messer on WPIX-TV.
In 1978, calling the American League East championship game on WPIX-TV, White authored one of baseball's most famous calls -- that of Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent's home run in the seventh inning against the host Boston Red Sox:
| “ | Deep to left! Yastrzemski will not get it -- it's a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent and the Yankees now lead it by a score of three to two! | ” |
White also did sports reports for the CBS Radio Network and helped call several World Series for CBS Radio (along with Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Ross Porter and later, Jack Buck). He also did pre-game reports for the ABC coverage of the 1977 Series, also along with Porter, and handled the post-game trophy presentation for ABC after the Yanks clinched the world title in the sixth game.
From 1989 to 1994, White served as president of the National League. White was the first African- American to hold such a high executive position in sports.
[edit] Highlights
- 5-time All-Star (1959-61, 1963-64)
- 7-time Gold Glove Award winner (1960-66)
- Twice Top 10 in MVP voting (1963-64)
- Hit a home run in his first at-bat (May 7, 1956)
- 8 times hit 20 or more home runs (1956, 1961-66)
- Tied a Ty Cobb record with 14 hits in consecutive doubleheaders (1961)
[edit] External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Baseball Hall of Fame candidate profile
- Baseball Library
| Preceded by A. Bartlett Giamatti |
National League president 1989–1994 |
Succeeded by Leonard Coleman |
Categories: 1934 births | Living people | Major league first basemen | New York Giants baseball players | Philadelphia Phillies players | San Francisco Giants players | St. Louis Cardinals players | National League All-Stars | Major league players from Florida | African American baseball players | Gold Glove Award winners | Baseball players who have hit for the cycle | Baseball executives | Major League Baseball announcers
