J-Speaks: History is made in Pin Stripes

When it comes to making their mark in the history books of sports, one team that seems to always make their imprint are the New York Yankees. They have won more championship 27 than any professional team. They have players that have made into the Baseball Hall of Fame for their play, particularly in clutch moments on the field. On this date of Feb. 10, 1979 the “Bronx Bombers” made history by the addition they made in the broadcast both.

This was the day when a gentleman by the name of Bill White became the first African American to become a play-by-play baseball announcer. He joined the New York Yankee broadcast tandem of Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer.

The former major leaguer who played 13 seasons in the pros with the New York/San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies batted .286 with 202 home runs. He made eight all-star appearances, was a 7-time Gold Glover and helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 1964.

White spent the next 17 seasons broadcasting Yankees games for both television and radio, working 13 of those seasons with Rizutto and Messer.

White entered into broadcasting during his playing days in St. Louis with his own sports program on KMOX radio and when he was traded to Philadelphia.

He became a sportscaster for WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV) in the city of “Brotherly Love” after his playing career ended. He broke a major color barrier in Philadelphia when he became the first African American to broadcast National Hockey League (NHL) when he called a number of Philadelphia Flyer games.

White joined the Yankee broadcast team in the aforementioned date of Feb. 10, 1971 where he broadcast. He also by landed this opportunity with the Yankees became the first African American to do play-by-play announcing for a professional sports team on a regular basis.

From 1971-77, White was featured on the New York City radio station WMCA, but the Yankees soon switched over to 1010 WINS. Four years later, the “Bronx Bombers” broadcast trio moved over to WABC. When the team played on television, the broadcast were carried on WPIX with White, Rizzuto and Messer.

Along with doing broadcast for the Yankees, White did sports reports for the CBS Radio Network and help to call several World Series games with for CBS Radio alongside Los Angles Dodgers announcer Ross Porter and later Jack Buck, the father of FOX Sports baseball and National Football League (NFL) play-by-play announcer Joe Buck.

The dynamic trio also carried the broadcast of the American League Championship Series in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981. In the 1977 World Series, White did the pre-game reports for ABC along with Porter and handled the post game trophy presentation for ABC after the Yanks clinched the World Series in Game 6.

On Oct. 2, 1978, White made one of baseball history’s famous calls when he announced the go ahead run of Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent in the seventh inning against the rival Boston Red Sox that went, “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!”

One year after leaving the broadcast both, White served as the president of MLB’s National League (NL). He became the first African American to hold such a high executive position in sports.

Last year, White released his autobiography entitled Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play.

To fully understand the kind of legacy that Bill White has left. All you have to do is look at the broadcasting landscape in pro sports. Most teams like in the NBA have African American doing pre-game, in-game and post game broadcast. You have color announcers in the NBA like Stu Lantz (Los Angles Lakers: Fox Sports West), Walt “Clyde” Frazier (New York Knicks: Madison Square Garden Network (MSG)), Clyde Drexler (Houston Rockets: Fox Sports Southwest), Greg Kelser (Detroit Pistons: Fox Sports Detroit) to name a few. For NBA on TNT you have for their pre-game alongside Ernie Johnson you have the likes of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Chris Webber and Shaquille O’Neal.

All of this is possible because of Bill White did. He was a great player and he worked at the craft of being an announcer. When he got his chance he made the most of it and made a place for others to follow.  

Information and quotations are courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_White_ and Newsday’s New York Moment: This Day in NY Sports History.