Okay, I didn't see Joe's post #116 before I made my post #117. Let me just say that we'll probably never know. I guess that's the best way to put it.
As far as White's religious beliefs go, from what I've read, White believed the world was flat, and tried to convince any who would listen that the world was flat. This was a very strange belief for 1887. Per the OJ book, White was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind home plate, and since it was the 1870's, that was almost certainly without any headgear. It is likely that because of this, he was suffering from dementia, as was sadly common with many 19th century catchers.
This doesn't mean he wasn't respected as a human being and player, but his religious beliefs were way outside the norm. It was a time period where people thought religion was dead - that science was going to shed light on the world and that rational, scientific perspective would assume dominance over the world. We know now that, for better or worse, than never fully happened.
|