HISTORY's Moment in Media: Bill White Breaks the Color Barrier for Play-by-Play Sports Announcers

But Bill White might be best known as the first Black person to serve as a regular playbyplay announcer for an American pro sports team He made history on February 10 1971 53 years ago this month when the New York Yankees said he39d be joining their broadcast booth Covering the announcement a writer for the New York Post dubbed the groundbreaking White quotthe Jackie Robinson of the broadcast boothquotHe joined cobroadcasters Phil Rizzuto a former Yankee and Frank Messer an announcing pro He39d go on to do the job for 18 seasons including building a legendary rapport with Rizzuto a Hall of Fame shortstop known for his big and eccentric personality excited cries of quotholy cowquot and not infrequently leaving games early in order to beat the traffic home to New JerseyBy contrast White and that39s what Rizzuto always called him never Bill was a direct plainspoken and deeply knowledgeable presence in the booth In fact he even occasionally displeased Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for being too honest and analytical in his role and not enough of a Yankees boosterSince his playing days White was known to be a decent and honorable guy In 1964 when his St Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series he still showed up on the night of that final win to speak at a church banquet a commitment he39d made much earlier in the seasonWhite was also willing to stand up vocally for civil rights He joined the majors in 1956 nine years after Jackie Robinson39s Major League debut but before the March on Washington in 1963 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and at a time when during spring training in Florida Black players weren39t allowed to stay in the same hotels or eat in the same restaurants as their white teammatesWhite had grown up in Ohio He39d been exposed to racism but not like the pernicious Jim Crow system in the South The first time he experienced real segregation was when he was recruited to the minor leagues in 1953 During spring training with the New York Giants in Phoenix he tried to go to a movie but wasn39t allowed because the theater didn39t have a balcony and in Arizona then Black patrons weren39t permitted to sit anywhere but in theater balconiesLater with the Cardinals he grew increasingly frustrated with the way he was treated as compared to his white teammates especially during spring training In 1961 the St Petersburg Chamber of Commerce held a quotSalute to Baseballquot breakfast and invited only white players White freely shared his complaints with a reporter quotWhen will we be made to feel like humansquot he asked He gained support from media outlets and the Cardinals organization By the next year a local businessman had purchased motels for all the Cardinals players to stay at Black and white And by the time of the Civil Rights Act all spring training facilities were integratedWhite39s broadcast career started with the Cardinals too Harry Caray the legendary announcer was calling games for St Louis when White played there When White kidded Caray about how easy his job was Caray challenged the ballplayer to try it White did and took to it He became a parttime sportscaster for St Louis radio station KMOX Later when he played for the Phillies he moved over to television and in the offseason called both basketball and hockey An inveterate baseballer he was known to refer to the puck as a ballWith the Yankees Rizzuto39s antics gave White the chance to hone his skills as a solid reliable announcer In White39s very first game for the Yankees at spring training Rizzuto spotted Joe DiMaggio in the stands and ran off to catch up with the legend his old teammate The rookie White was left to handle the broadcast aloneHe pulled it off of course and went on to the long and successful career with WPIX the Yankees39 local TV channel For a few years in the 3970s he covered the World Series for CBS Radio He had a brief stint on the Today show He only left the Yankees booth when the team had moved most of its games to cable leaving less for him to do on WPIXA halfcentury after White broke the playbyplay color barrier the number of Black pro sports playbyplay announcers is still small Dave Sims who calls games for the Seattle Mariners and the biracial John Schriffen playbyplay man for the Chicago White Sox are the only two Black announcers calling Major League baseball In the NBA the Washington Wizards made history in 2022 with the first allBlack broadcast team including Drew Gooden and Chris Miller in the booth and Meghan McPeak on the sidelines But many more Black sportscasters are working as color commentators And there39s a scholarship fund dedicated to helping further diversify the playbyplay ranksAs for White today he39s living in the Philadelphia suburbs and a member of the Cardinals Hall of Fame This year he was a nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame in the category that considers executives umpires and managers He lost out to Jim Leyland the beloved former manager but if White39s long and varied career proved anything he39ll be back as a nominee again and he39ll winPhoto credit MLBClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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HISTORY's Moment in Media: Bill White Breaks the Color Barrier for Play-by-Play Sports Announcers

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