Bill White (baseball)
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William De Kova White (born January 28, 1934 in Lakewood, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and left-handed batter who played for the New York and San Francisco Giants (1956, 1958), St. Louis Cardinals (1959-65, 1969) and Philadelphia Phillies (1966-68).
In his 13-season career, White batted .286 with 202 home runs and 870 RBI in 1673 games.
White soon moved on to a career as a sportscaster, enjoying stints at ABC, CBS Radio, and WPIX-TV, where he called New York Yankees games -- primarily with with Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer. White served the Yankees broadcast crew from 1971 to 1988, doing radio as well as TV during most of that stretch. He was the first African American to do play-by-play regularly for a major-league sports team.
In 1978, calling the American League East championship game for 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!
From 1989 to 1994, White served as president of the National League. White was the first African American to hold such a high executive postion in sports.
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)
External links
- Baseball Library (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/W/White_Bill.stm)
- Template:Baseball-reference
| Preceded by: A. Bartlett Giamatti | National League president 1989–1994 | Succeeded by: Leonard Coleman |
Categories: 1934 births | 1960 National League All-Stars | 1961 National League All-Stars | 1963 National League All-Stars | 1964 National League All-Stars | African American athletes | Baseball executives | Major league first basemen | New York Giants baseball players | Philadelphia Phillies players | San Francisco Giants players | Sports announcers | St. Louis Cardinals players