James Laurie "Deacon" White (December 2, 1847 – July 7, 1939) was an American
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
player who was one of the principal stars during the first two decades of the sport's
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...
era. The outstanding
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
of the 1870s during baseball's barehanded period, he caught more games than any other player during the decade, and was a major figure on five consecutive championship teams from 1873 to 1877 – three in the
National Association (NA), in which he played throughout its five-year existence from 1871 to 1875, and two in the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
(NL), which was formed as the first fully recognized
major league in , partially as a result of White and three other stars moving from the powerhouse
Boston Red Stockings to the
Chicago White Stockings. Although he was already 28 when the NL was established, White played 15 seasons in the major leagues, completing a 23-year career at the top levels of the sport.
In 1871, White was the first batter to come to the plate in the National Association, the first professional baseball league. After compiling
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
over five NA seasons, he led the NL in
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
(RBI) in its first two seasons of play, and also led the league in batting (.387),
slugging average,
hits,
triples and
total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, whil ...
in a brief shift to
first base in 1877. For three years afterward, he joined his younger brother
Will, a successful
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
, with the
Cincinnati Reds and
Cincinnati Stars. In his mid-30s he became an effective
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
when the toil of catching had become too great, and was a major force on the championship
Detroit Wolverines
The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the pre ...
team of , at age 39. Over the 20-year period of his career, White and had more RBI (988) than any player except
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 ...
. Upon his retirement, he was among baseball's all-time leaders in career games,
at bats, hits and total bases. He ranked fourth in career
total chances
In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...
at third base, fifth in
assists, and sixth in
putouts and
double plays. White was inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
.
Early life
White was born in
Caton, New York, the son of farmer Lester S. White (born ) and his wife Adeline (born ). The couple had at least eight children: Oscar Leroy (born ), James, Elmer Melville (born ),
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(1854 – 1911), Phebe Davis (born ), Estelle (born ), George ( – after 1939) and Hattie (born ); they also adopted a girl named Phebe Maynard (born ) when they were in their fifties. White's ancestors likely immigrated to America during the
Colonial period. His cousin
Elmer White also played baseball professionally as James' teammate in 1871; in March 1872, Elmer was the first recorded professional baseball player to die.
Baseball career
White learned baseball from a
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
soldier who returned to his hometown after the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in 1865.
His pro career began in
1868
Events
January–March
* January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.
* January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...
with the
Cleveland Forest Citys
The Forest Citys were a short lived professional baseball team based in Cleveland in the early 1870s. The actual name of the team, as shown in standings, was Forest City, not "Cleveland". The name "Forest Citys" was used in the same generic styl ...
club, at a time when no team was entirely composed of
professional players. He earned the first hit in baseball's first fully professional league – a
double off
Bobby Mathews
Robert T. Mathews (November 21, 1851 – April 17, 1898) was an American right-handed professional baseball pitcher who played in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the National League of Major League Baseball and the ...
of the
Fort Wayne Kekiongas in the first inning of the first game in National Association history on May 4, ; he also made the first catch. His long career allowed him to play with many of the legendary figures of 19th-century professional baseball; White played on the great National Association
Boston Red Stockings teams of the early 1870s, and also played with
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 ...
and
Al Spalding
Albert Goodwill Spalding (September 2, 1849 – September 9, 1915) was an American pitcher, manager, and executive in the early years of professional baseball, and the co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company. He was born and raised ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
,
King Kelly
Michael Joseph "King" Kelly (December 31, 1857 – November 8, 1894), also commonly known as "$10,000 Kelly", was an American outfielder, catcher, and manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the National League, Inter ...
in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Dan Brouthers
Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers (; May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from to , with a brief return in . Nicknamed "Big Dan" for his size, he was and weighed , wh ...
in
Buffalo, and
Ned Hanlon and
Sam Thompson in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, as well as
Jake Beckley
Jacob Peter Beckley (August 4, 1867 – June 25, 1918), nicknamed "Eagle Eye", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Pittsburgh Burghers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New Y ...
and
Pud Galvin in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
.
White led his league in batting average twice (including the NA in ), and in RBI three times (including the NA in ); not until 1953, when
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor lea ...
topped the NL, would another catcher lead his league in RBI. White started out early enough to have played against the undefeated
Cincinnati Red Stockings
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867� ...
of , baseball's first all-professional team. He was considered the best barehanded catcher of his time, as well as one of the best third baseman during the second half of his career; his combined total of games caught in the NA and NL was eventually passed by
Pop Snyder in . On May 16, White recorded 11 assists at third base, which remains the major league record for a nine-inning game although eight other players have since tied the mark. In the rough-and-tumble 19th-century baseball era, White was a nonsmoking,
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
-toting, church-going deacon.
In 1889, the contracts of White and teammate
Jack Rowe
John Charles "Jack" Rowe (December 8, 1856 – April 25, 1911) was an American professional baseball player, manager and team owner from 1877 to 1898. He played 12 years in Major League Baseball, as a shortstop (657 games), catcher (298 games), ...
were sold to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, but the pair refused to report unless they were paid additional money, leading to a protracted dispute. Eventually the two men were paid, with White telling a reporter, "We appreciate the money, but we ain't worth it. Rowe's arm is gone. I'm over 40 and my fielding ain't so good, though I can still hit some. But I will say this. No man is going to sell my carcass unless I get half." Complaints like this were part of the reason that the
Players' League was formed in 1890.
According to historian
Lee Allen in ''The National League Story'' (1961), White believed that the
earth is flat. He tried and failed to convince his teammates that they were living on a flat plane and not a globe; they ridiculed him. Then one asked to be convinced, and the Deacon gave him an argument suited to the hypothesis that the earth is not really turning. He convinced the teammate but the argument would not prove that the earth is not a sphere.
White's playing career ended after the 1890 season. Over the 20-year period from 1871 to 1890, White and had more RBI (988) than any player except
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 ...
, and also ranked fourth in career games (1,560),
at bats (6,624), hits (2,067) and total bases (2,595). He also ended his career ranking fourth in major league history in games (826) and
total chances
In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...
(3,016) at third base, fifth in
assists (1,618), and sixth in
putouts (954) and
double plays (118).
White managed the minor league club
Elmira Gladiators of the
New York–Pennsylvania League in 1891. He has been incorrectly credited with managing the
McAlester Miners of the
Oklahoma–Arkansas–Kansas League (1907) and the
Tulsa Oilers
The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...
of the
Oklahoma–Kansas League (1908). Both teams were actually managed by Harry B. "Deacon" White.
Family and later life
White married Marium Van Arsdale (born 1851 in
Moravia, New York
Moravia is a town in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 3,626 at the 2010 census.
The town of Moravia contains a village also called Moravia. The town is in the Finger Lakes region, south of Auburn.
History
Moravia wa ...
) on April 24, 1871.
For much of his career, they lived on his farm in
Corning, New York
Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,551 at the 2020 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company t ...
; they moved to
Buffalo after he joined the Bisons in 1881. Their only child, Grace Hughson White, was born in Buffalo on September 8, 1882.
The family moved to Detroit when White began playing for the Wolverines, but soon returned to Buffalo; by 1900 he was operating a successful
livery stable there.
Sometime after 1900, the Whites sent Grace to
Mendota College in
Mendota, Illinois, beginning a family association with the
Advent Christian school which would endure across multiple generations. By 1909, James and Marium had also moved to Mendota, where they became the head residents at Maple Hall, the young ladies' dormitory, until 1912. On August 15, 1912, Grace married fellow Mendota alumnus Roger A. Watkins at the dormitory; that year, the college had relocated fifty miles to the east, becoming Aurora College. Marium died on April 30, 1914 in Mendota; one of Aurora's students recalled of "Ma" White: "She was of a cheery disposition, with a word and a smile for all; mingling with the girls as one of us; giving kindly counsel and encouragement. Her interest in each girl is expressed in her own words: 'I am only doing what I would like to have some one else do for my girl, if she were away from home.' Words cannot express our appreciation of such kind and personal interest."
[ Roger and Grace Watkins continued to be involved with the college, and moved to Aurora in 1920; in 1927 Roger joined the college's board of directors, serving until 1971, all but the first two years also as the board's secretary. By 1930 Deacon White had remarried, and with his wife Alice moved into the Watkins home at 221 Calumet Avenue, next door to the college president.
White died at age 91 in the early morning of July 7, 1939 at the Watkins' summer cottage at Rude Camp, the college's retreat on the Fox River in St. Charles Township; having been in good health, his death was attributed to a disastrous heat wave.][ He had been scheduled to be the principal guest of honor at Aurora's celebration of baseball's centennial the following day; the festivities instead featured a tribute to his memory. White had been greatly disappointed over not having been invited to the opening ceremonies to the Baseball Hall of Fame that summer, having been completely overlooked in the voting for inductees. His funeral was held at Aurora's Healy Chapel, and he was buried at Restland Cemetery in Mendota.][ He was survived by his second wife Alice, who had been staying in ]Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...
at the time of his death, by his younger brother George,[ and by his daughter Grace (1882–1956][) and her husband Roger (1888–1977).
]
Hall of Fame
In August 2008, White was named as one of ten former players who began their careers before 1943 to be considered by the Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.
Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee ...
for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009; although he fell short in final voting, he received the most votes of any player whose career ended before 1940. In 2010, the Nineteenth Century Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
named White the year's Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the Hall of Fame.
On December 3, 2012 the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced that he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the new Pre-Integration Era Committee (pre-1947 era), receiving 14 out of 16 votes; he and two others elected by the Committee were inducted on July 28, 2013, with his acceptance speech given by his great-grandson Jerry Watkins, the son of White's grandson Daniel. With over 166 years between his birth and date of induction (and nearly three-quarters of a century after his death), White is the "oldest" person ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
See also
* List of Major League Baseball progressive career hits leaders
* List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
* List of Major League Baseball progressive career home runs leaders
* List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
* List of Major League Baseball batting champions
*List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
In baseball, a run batted in (RBI) is awarded to a Batting (baseball), batter for each Baserunning, runner who Run (baseball), scores as a result of the batter's action, including a Hit (baseball), hit, fielder's choice, sacrifice fly, bases loade ...
* List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
* List of Major League Baseball player-managers
References
External links
Baseball Hall of Fame biography
NPR: How History Created the Cult of the Catcher
– historian Peter Morris discusses White's career and the Veterans Committee deliberations
SABR biography
as Overlooked 19th Century Legend
ESPN biography
MLB.com: Hall inductees White, O'Day have intertwined history
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Deacon
1847 births
1939 deaths
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Major League Baseball catchers
Major League Baseball third basemen
Cleveland Forest Citys (NABBP) players
Cleveland Forest Citys players
Boston Red Stockings players
Chicago White Stockings players
Boston Red Caps players
Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879) players
Buffalo Bisons (NL) players
Detroit Wolverines players
Pittsburgh Alleghenys players
Buffalo Bisons (PL) players
Baseball players from Buffalo, New York
19th-century baseball players
National League batting champions
National League RBI champions
Cleveland Forest Citys managers
Cincinnati Reds (1876–1880) managers
Major League Baseball player-managers
Minor league baseball managers
Elmira Gladiators players
Aurora University
People from Steuben County, New York
People from Mendota, Illinois
Flat Earth proponents