Roy Hilton White (born December 27, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the New York Yankees between 1965 and 1979. With the Yankees, he won two championships in 1977 and '78, both over his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers.

White, who came up a year after the Yankees’ final “dynastic” World Series appearance in 1964, is the only player from the franchise's subsequent period of decline during the mid to late 1960s to participate in their championships of the late 1970s.

Playing career

White, a switch hitter, was named to the American League All-Star team in 1969 and in 1970. In , he set an American League record for most sacrifice flies in a season with 17. White led the American League in walks in and in runs in . He played on three American League pennant winners (in 1976, 1977, and 1978), and two World Series championship teams (1977 and 1978).

After playing in the major leagues, he spent three seasons playing in Japan for the Tokyo Giants.

In a 15-year major league career, White played in 1,881 games, accumulating 1,803 hits in 6,650 at bats for a .271 career batting average along with 160 home runs, 758 runs batted in and a .360 on-base percentage.

White, who is half African American (and half White through his father, Marcus White), appeared in a 2011 interview for UniWatch on Page 2 of ESPN.com about his time in Georgia with the Yankees’ Double-A farm team, the Columbus Confederate Yankees, during the mid-1960s, which had a patch of the Confederate flag on its uniform. White commented that even at the height of the civil rights movement he didn't notice the patch nor pay attention to its symbolism. Instead, the native Southern Californian was faced with contending with overt racism in the Southern United States at the time.

In 2014, White receive a Special Recognition Award presented by the Order Sons of Italy in America, Columbus Lodge #2143 for his efforts to promote higher education to underprivileged students through the Roy White Foundation.

See also

  • List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
  • List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
  • List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise

References

  • Roy White st SABR (Baseball BioProject)
  • The Roy White Foundation Website Roy White's official homepage and charity

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