Golly... let's be against Bill White for something he didn't do?
He was NL president for 5 years. He wanted to see an increase in the number of black baseball executives, I guess that's what he didn't do.
I'm not the oldest here, nor among the most well read. (Just typing that has me missing Barry Sloate.) But I do recall AL umpires with that odd shaped bit of more mattress make shift chest protector thing that AL umpires used (I think it was invented by an AL umpire.) And AL umpires had those wine colored jackets at some points... seems to me that high strikes and curve balls were called differently in the two leagues. There were differences between the leagues. Bill White was busy, working on and helping with the unification and standardization of the two leagues. Baseball... tradition, that's something we like about baseball. NOT the changes. But we eventually accept the changes. The unification of the AL and NL offices was going against the traditional grain of baseball. (which years did Topps have individual cards for the AL and NL league presidents???) Baseball, generally, is resilient to change. From the present vantage point, I now think that change was a good thing. Baseball's biggest change involved Jackie Robinson. Bill White was the second black player to play in the Carolina League. The NL went to the DH. The bases are bigger. Pitch Clock. Lights at Wrigley. Players stopped leaving gloves on the field as they ran in to bat. Changes.
I agree, Bill White didn't get the front offices in Baseball to increase minorities in those jobs. We collectors didn't get that done, either. I still think that William Dekova White (I remember the entire name from having read about him, and others, in a 1964 Cardinals yearbook, that Dad brought home from a game we attended that year) is a strong and deserving candidate among those listed for consideration. White was with Yogi Berra and Pee Wee Reese in getting Phil Rizzuto into the Hall, I think that was a good move.
Joe West... 4 or 5 years ago there was a study done that said that West missed on just over 20 calls a game when behind the plate. He was an umpire for a long time. He may well have made more bad calls than any other umpire, ever. You could look it up, if you had ok eyesight. I liked Dutch Rennert. Chris Pelekoudas, Doug Harvey, Frank Secory (a south paw), Augie Donatelli... those were the names I'd here when listening to ball games late at night.
Last edited by FrankWakefield; 10-22-2023 at 12:02 AM.
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10-20-2023, 11:10 AM
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