One Man's Dream
My Town, My Team, My Time
Frank White
Bill Althaus
9780985631437
272 pages
Ascend Books
Overview
When the Kansas City Royals appeared in the 1985 World Series, manager Dick Howser had to make a difficult, and controversial, call. Because the series started in the National League city of St. Louis, there would be no designated hitter, which meant that Hal McRae would be delegated to the role of a reserve coming off the bench. Before the start of the I-70 Series, which featured Howser’s Kansas City Royals and White Herzog’s St. Louis Cardinals, the veteran manager called Frank White into his office. He asked White to do something that stunned the baseball world. White, a perennial Gold Glove second baseman, was asked to hit cleanup for the Royals. For more than a decade, White was considered the premier fielding second baseman of his generation, but now, he was being asked to become only the second, second baseman in baseball history to hit cleanup in a World Series. The first was Jackie Robinson, the Hall of Famer who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. White responded by hitting a home run in the Royals first World Series victory, led the team in RBIs and played a key role as Kansas City rebounded from a 3 games to 1 deficit to claim the lone championship in the history of the proud American League franchise. White was the hometown kid who made good. He'd dreamed of playing in a World Series, and he made the most of his opportunity to give the hometown fans a memory they would cherish forever. For 18 years, White was the gold standard by which every Major League Baseball second baseman was judged. His fielding range was uncanny and his ability to make a pinpoint throw to first base defied description. Yet, near the end of his career, he left the Royals with a bad taste in his mouth. He served as a coach for the Boston Red Sox for a brief stint, but returned to Kansas City with renewed optimism, hoping that one day his dream of becoming a Major League manager would become a reality. He worked as a coach, a Double A manager in Wichita, Kansas, and served as a team vice president. Yet, when it came time to name a new field manager, he was always overlooked. He never made his disappointment public, but he would confide to close friends that he was heartbroken by the Royals decisions concerning his future. Most recently he enjoyed a successful stint as a TV color commentator for the Royals, but was kicked out of the booth because of his honesty and insight into a team that had not enjoyed the type of success that was always associated with the Royals during White’s golden era. White is one of three Royals icons—joining late manager Dick Howser and Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett—to have their numbers retired. A statue of his turning a double play stands in center field at Kauffman Stadium and his status with Kansas City baseball fans will never be tarnished. In MY TIME: One Man’s Dream, White gives fans an inside look at his baseball legacy, from the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s to the disappointing way the team turned its back on its greatest representative—both on, and off the field. White proves that gold cannot be tarnished, in this must-read journey that will captivate even the most casual baseball fan.
Author Bio
Frank White enjoyed a solid-gold career with the Kansas City Royals that had enough highs to counter the lows in which the Hall of Fame second baseman and the club he called home for 18 years parted ways in 2012. He became the premier second baseman of his era, winning a then record-tying eight Gold Gloves, earning five All-Star Game berths and hitting cleanup in the 1985 World Series, when the Royals came back from a 3-1 deficit to earn the team’s lone world championship in seven games. White retired as a player in 1990 and in 1995, his No. 20 joined George Brett’s No. 5 and late manager Dick Howser’s No. 10 as the only three numbers in the history of the team to have been retired. That same year he was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame. He joined the Royals front office and later became a popular member of the Royals broadcasting team in 2008, when he replaced the popular Paul Splittorff, who was battling health issues at the time and later lost a battle to cancer. In a move that still angers and mystifies many Royals fans, he was fired as a color commentator in 2012. He and his wife Teresa live in Lee’s Summit. White recently signed on as a coach for the Kansas City T-Bones of the Independent League in Kansas City.Bill Althaus is an award-winning sports writer and columnist for The Examiner in Eastern Jackson County. He was named the Media Personality of the Year in 2006 by the Simone Award Committee, won the Morris Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 and was named just the second winner of the Central Hockey League Media Service Award in 2010. During the past three years he has been honored by the Missouri Press Association for his work at The Examiner. His work has also been recognized by United Press International, the Associated Press and the Missouri Broadcasters Association. Bill has written eight books, including an insider’s look at Priest Holmes' and Dante Hall’s record-breaking seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, a behind-the-scenes peek at the Kansas City Chiefs and the University of Missouri athletic programs through the eyes of their legendary players and fans and the autobiography of the late Kansas City Chiefs bandleader, Tony "Mr. Music" DiPardo. Bill and his wife Stacy live in Grain Valley, Missouri and are the parents of two boys, Zach and Sean.
