1970 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"Despite missing part of spring training last year, attending monthly meetings and taking time out for summer camp, Roy White still managed to lead the Yanks with a .290 batting mark and was second in RBI's with 74. And while lifting his average 23 points over his 1968 mark, the slim-waisted outfielder didn't neglect working on his fielding, which has been a problem. An extremely fast runner, Roy uses his speed to overtake balls which he occasionally misjudges.
Roy became a regular in 1968 when he hit .267 with 17 homers and 62 RBI's. In previous trials with the Yankees, he failed to make it as an infielder."
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1970
YANK ON THE RISE
"One of the handsome things that flitted through the Yankee hopes as they got off in a cloud of dust early last season was the sight of Roy White. Roy White stealing a base. Roy White advancing a runner from first to third. Roy White driving in a run with a single and Roy White overtaking a fly ball in left field.
When the good things that happened for the Yankees in the early weeks began to pale, there was Roy White doing all the same things from April to October- sometimes a little bit better and sometimes not quite as good, but close.
White had that kind of season. And as the Yankees' hopes for a place- just a little place- in the New York sun grew weaker, White just looked just that much better. He had a pretty good season. He hit .290 and he batted in 74 runs, which was better than he'd ever done before and appeared to be just about what he should always do. And that wouldn't be bad, either.
He was also one of the rare Yankees who walked more often than he struck out. That can be taken as an indication of the level of maturity as a ball player he's reached.
'He just hardly ever swings at a bad pitch,' Ralph Houk, the grateful manager, says. 'He rarely looks bad. Now if a pitcher works him outside, he can go with the pitch.'
The first thing you have to know about White is that he stands barely five feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. That's all muscle from the corners of his square shoulders down to the narrow taper of his waist, but there just isn't a whole lot of Roy White there. It's something he had to learn: 160-pound bodies don't generate long-ball power. He hit only seven homers last season- down from 17 the year before, but it signified an improvement.
One year he hit several home runs early and thought that was his style. The next year, 1967, he spent the first 84 games at Spokane learning about himself.
'I talk to myself a lot in the outfield when I've tried to pull a pitch I shouldn't or when I get high-minded,' he said. 'I don't use such polite language to myself, but I say, 'You stupid son-of-a-gun, who do you think you are? You know you're not going to hit it out.' ' White said that one night in August after hitting his second homer in two games, but that didn't change his mind.
Since he's learned, he sticks to a game plan. He does almost all the good things. He goes from first to third, he hits behind the runner, he hits a sacrifice fly, he catches the balls he should catch in left field and sometimes some of them he isn't expected to catch. He doesn't have a strong arm, but he knows he doesn't and has disciplined himself into hitting the cutoff and throwing to the right base.
The very fact that White has survived in left field is a tribute to what's inside that whippet's body.
For his first five seasons in organized baseball White was a second baseman. But when he got to the Yankees on his bat, his glove wasn't all that good, and Bobby Richardson was playing the position anyhow.
So White was tried at third base, which sounded like a good idea at the time. But the well-being of both White and the team was jeopardized with him at third base. Then the move was to the outfield, where White didn't exactly let any fly balls fall off his head but he didn't make anybody forget Jim Pisoni's glove either. But he had a live-looking bat and Houk had a last-resort move to first base, the sacrifice of all that running speed, in the back of his mind if White couldn't play the outfield.
But White worked and worked and worked. And now he's a pretty good outfielder. And a pretty good hitter, too."
-Steve Jacobson, Newsday (Baseball 1970 Yearbook)
"At 26, Roy White has arrived at stardom.
He has made himself into probably the best defensive left fielder in Yankee history. The lean switch-hitting star has led the Yankees in hitting the last two years and his averages are moving up and up.
But it hasn't been an easy climb at all. Roy started as a second baseman, played right field and third base, but has had fielding problems. Always a strong hitter, White was established in left field by Manager Ralph Houk and he worked at becoming a fielding standout. Last summer Roy was named to the American League All-Star team and finished the season with a .290 average, with 74 RBIs and 81 walks. He topped Yankee outfielders in assists. He has committed only four errors in the outfield in the last two years.
Despite a strong 1969 season, White was hampered by frequent military service calls which probably will interrupt his current season.
Possessor of outstanding speed, White has voluntarily shortened his swing - sacrificing some power for base hit frequency. It has helped the Yankees.
During the last off-season, Roy was a successful salesman for CBS Radio Spot Sales and is developing a secondary career. He's a crossword puzzle expert and a jazz fan. Roy grew up in Los Angeles but now lives in West Paterson, New Jersey. He is married and has a three-year-old daughter."
-The New York Yankees Official 1970 Yearbook
"Roy blossomed into an All-Star last year as he was picked to represent the [Yankees] in the All-Star Classic. He led the Yankees for the second straight year and led the AL in sacrifice flies with 11. Roy also led the club in doubles (30) and walks (81), and his .290 [batting] average was the 12th highest in the AL. In addition, he set personal highs for himself in hitting, doubles, RBIs (74) and walks.
A fine offensive player who has made himself into a proficient defensive outfielder, Roy wound up fourth in fielding percentage among AL outfielders last year and led Yankee outfielders in assists. He has committed only four errors over the last two years, one in 1968 and three last year.
Roy was originally signed by the Yankees as an infielder in 1962. He was brought up to the big club at the tail end of the 1965 season, and in 1966 won the James P. Dawson Award as the outstanding rookie in spring training and was switched to the outfield. The next year found him in Spokane as a third baseman. Roy was switched back to the outfield for good, however, in 1968.
A jazz fan, Roy spent the off-season working for CBS Radio as a time salesman."
-1970 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
AMONG THE BEST IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE
"Roy White has been up among the league leaders in hitting this season and is the Yankees' top All-Star candidate. White, hitting at a .350 clip in mid-June, was 'doing his thing' as a switch-hitter and was leading the Yanks in hits, RBIs, runs scored and homers."
-1970 New York Yankees Scorecard and Official Program
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