Bill White is a baseball player you've probably never heard of unless you were a fan of MLB during the 50s and 60s White was a 1b who picked up 8 all-star appearances and 7 Gold Gloves...which is more than I realized he had when I started prep for this post. Playing through the 'modern deadball era' of the 1960s, he still hit .286 for his career along with 202 HR. If you like advanced stats--his OPS+ was over 100 EVERY season he was a regular from 1958 to 1968.
Considered to be friendly and well-spoken, he had his own radio spot at KMOX in St. Louis (KMOX is a big station there) and when he was traded to the Phillies, he continued on radio out east. When his career ended, being pretty decent looking, he headed to TV and sportscasting, spending 17 years (71 to 88) as the play-by-play for both TV and radio for the New York Yankees.
ASIDE: Speaking of radio--read up on Jocko Maxwell.
There's some hidden important stuff there:
- First, the Yankees historically are THE flagship team of baseball. If you're calling games for them--you've got to be good.
- Second, in the years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the Yankees were not exactly enamored with black baseball players. You've got Elston Howard and...well, you've got Elston Howard (the next great black Yankee will be Reggie Jackson in the late 1970s)
- Third, before Bill White, there had NEVER been a black play-by-play announcer in baseball history.
No pressure...and as mentioned, he did it for 17 years. When you are 'first', you've got to be better than everyone else to hold onto your job--White was, and he did it in the US's largest media market with the sport's greatest franchise. And while he's doing this--he also becomes the first non-white to do play-by-play for the NHL as the Philadelphia Flyers/Broad Street Bullies had White come in as their 'substitute' PbP guy. (HUGE ASIDE: I knew White was a sportscaster--had no idea he was a 'first' OR that he did hockey--I learn a ton of stuff writing these posts.)
So what happened that ended White's broadcasting career? Some sort of controversy, right? Nope. In 1989 when Bart Giamatti was elevated to MLB Commissioner, White was elected unanimously to become the NL President--this was a big deal because in the 20th century, 'major league baseball' wasn't unified. The AL and NL maintained separate administrations through the 1990s.
It turns out that this Bill White guy isn't just the firs black to do PbP, but the first black man to become a senior executive, hold an ACTUAL position of responsibility, in a major American sport (we can have an argument another day on whether the Negro Leagues of the 1920s-30s should count as a full-fledged 'major' league...if so, then there were multiple men before White to hold senior positions).
So here's what gets me. White isn't in Cooperstown. If it was all about stats--fine. I'd understand that. While White was a good player, he wasn't close to being a legend, but--the Baseball Hall of Fame isn't just about stats. There are wings for broadcasters and others important to the sport--pioneers.
So here you've got a guy who is 'first' to be a minority announcer and 'first' in ANY sport to be a senior sport executive. Ignore the stats--aren't these two things enough to merit admission to the Hall?
In any event--I'm writing this during February, 2024--writing about Black History Month, but White's story could just as easily be told in April come Opening Day or in October when pennant races are being decided. It's important we do not compartmentalize portions of American history (any history for that matter) based on a gender or skin color. It all weaves in together into a larger picture--and we should think of it that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment