White, Bill 1933(?)–

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Bill White 1933(?)–

Baseball executive

Bill White, the president of baseball’s National League, is the highest-ranking black executive in all of professional sports. History was made on April 1, 1989 when White assumed his duties in the offices of the National League. He will earn some $250,000 per year in a demanding administrative position that requires resolution, judgment, and a thorough grounding in the game of baseball. As Rich Ashburn put it in the Philadelphia Daily News, “The National League should be in pretty good hands…. Bill White is intelligent, articulate, firm and fair. And he’s determined.”

Although blacks are well represented on teams in virtually every American sport, they are rare indeed in managerial and executive positions. White does not see his appointment as a means to correct that imbalance. Both he and the baseball team owners who chose him agree that his experience, his maturity, and his love of the game make him ideally suited for the job. Peter O’Malley, chairman of the search committee and owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, remarked to the New York Times: “Bill White was selected because he was the best man for the job. He was the only man who was offered the job and, fortunately, he was the only man who accepted. Race was not a factor.”

For his own part, White had this to say about his new position. “I’ve been in the game since 1952,” he told the Boston Globe. “It wasn’t integrated. When I came into baseball, spring training wasn’t integrated. The country wasn’t integrated. I think we’ve both come along. I’m here now, and there have been quite a few improvements in hiring at certain levels. I feel that will continue, and the people here feel the same way. I…ve told people the most important thing that has happened in baseball history was Jackie Robinson getting a chance to play. It gave a lot of people before who had no hope a lot of hope. I’m glad for the opportunity, and I will do the best that I can. If I didn’t think I could do this job, I’d be foolish to take it.”

White earned a reputation as an outspoken player almost from the moment he signed with his first major league team. Perhaps because he came to professional baseball after several years in college, he was quicker to address injustices than others, and more forceful in demanding that changes be made. As New York Times correspondent Claire Smith wrote: “Bill White has long

At a Glance…

Full name, William DeKova White; born in Lakewood, FL, c. 1933; divorced; five children. Education: Attended Hiram College.

Professional baseball player, 1956-69; joined the New York Giants, 1956, moved to the St. Louis Cardinals, 1959, traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1965, and returned to the Cardinals for final season, 1969. Play-by-play broadcaster, 1970-89; began in St. Louis and Philadelphia, moved to New York Yankees televised games, 1971. President of the National League, 1989—.

Awards: Named to National League All-Star team six times; awarded Gold Glove for first base seven times.

prided himself on being a person who cannot be easily fitted into any mold. In the early 1960’s, when it was safer for one’s career as well as health to acquiesce quietly to the nation’s Jim Crow laws, White was among a vocal minority of black players who spoke out vociferously against inadequacies at Florida spring-training sites and in minor league cities throughout the South.” White originally agreed to play baseball with the New York Giants merely as a means to earn college tuition (he was enrolled in pre-med courses). He made the Giants’ roster in 1956, however, and moved with the team to San Francisco, embarking on a fine 13-year career.

White hit twenty-two home runs as a rookie with the Giants. In 1959 he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .286 and played first base. The beginning of the 1965 season found White with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he played until the end of 1968. For his last season he returned to the Cardinals, performing well despite severe injuries to his Achilles tendon. His career statistics are far above the average for a sport that uses players like fodder: in 1,673 games he had 5,972 at bats, with 1,706 hits, 202 home runs, and 870 runs batted in. Six times he was named to the National League All-Star team, and seven times he brought home the Gold Glove for first base.

After retiring from baseball, White found work as a radio and television announcer in St. Louis and then in Philadelphia. Howard Cosell happened to catch White doing play-by-play for a college basketball game and recommended him to the New York Yankees. In 1971 White entered the broadcast booth with Phil Rizzuto and began an 18-year tenure as the Yankees’ play-by-play man for televised games. White carried his strong opinions on affirmative action with him into the booth, but he resisted using his power to become a spokesman for special interest groups. Instead he concentrated on baseball and became immensely popular with the hard-to-please Yankee fans.

White never made any bones about it: he loved being an announcer for the Yankees. The job paid a princely salary of $300,000 per year for about 60 days’ work each summer, allowing him to purchase a stately home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for his family of five children. In 1989, White told the Philadelphia Daily News: “The Yankees took a trip to the West Coast last summer. I worked a game in Seattle and then I flew to Alaska and fished for five days. I flew back to Oakland for a game and then fished another four days in northern California. That’s the kind of thing I’m going to miss.”

His years of experience with baseball notwithstanding, White was surprised when he was approached about taking the presidency of the National League. White told the New York Times: “My first comment was, ‘Are you serious?’ But in meeting with people, I found out they were dead serious. Once I knew that, we proceeded from there.” White was the unanimous choice of the National League team owners to succeed A. Bartlett Giamatti, who was named Baseball Commissioner. As president of the league, White must arbitrate disputes between players and umpires and supervise contracts for the league’s professional players. He must determine the rules under which the teams will play—including the controversial Designated Hitter regulation. Most importantly, he will preside over a major expansion of major league teams, expected to bring baseball into a number of new American cities. As Larry Whiteside put it in the Boston Globe: “[White’s] been on the baseball scene for more than 30 years, but what [he] is sure to face is a plethora of duties, responsibilities and issues he never came across as a player or broadcaster. He’s been outside the closed door; now he’ll be inside.”

No doubt the issue of race will continue to dog White, despite his evident qualifications for the position. White’s appointment came at a moment in the history of sports— especially baseball—when insiders were openly lamenting the lack of black leadership. White became baseball’s first black leader, and that issue is just another that he must address. White told the Boston Globe: “My goal is to be the best president I can be. I hope that in the opinion of the committee, I met those qualifications. I know my hiring will be symbolic and important to some people. To me, it’s getting on with my life and doing something that I enjoy.”

Some two years into his four-year contract now, White has surprised some people with his style of management. For the most part he has shunned the media and has indeed conducted his business behind that “closed door” where management decisions are made. The consensus on White among the owners who hired him is quite positive, however—such executives as Phillies owner Bill Giles and Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon laud White for his integrity, his honesty, and his independent agenda. White himself told the New York Times: “[Those owners] could get a black man they could control or they could get a black man who’s been around this game as long, if not longer than they have. I think that’s what they got. What they didn’t get was a puppet. And they know my reputation, so it’s to their credit that they did not just bring in someone who would just fill the position in name only.” White added: “I’m not close to anyone in baseball, period. I’m independent, you could say. By choice.”