Fred White, the longtime voice of the Kansas City Royals for 25 years, who was associated with the team for 40 years in total, passed away of melanoma on Wednesday in a hospice. White was 76 years old.
White died just one day after the Royals announced White was retiring as he team's director of broadcast services and the Royals Alumni, according to MLB.com. Royals owner David Glass expressed his shock and sadness about White's passing yesterday.
"I had great admiration and respect for Fred and even after he left the broadcast booth, he did a fantastic job with our radio network," Glass said. "Fred and I used to talk about the fact that the Cardinals used to have the real radio network covering so many towns with so many stations. And I think that what Fred put together for us probably was second to what the Cardinals did but he had a great feel for it and he did just a super job for us."
White was the man who called two of the most famous moments in Royals history. The first was George Brett's famous home run off of Yankees' closer Goose Gossage in the 1980 playoffs, and the second was Brett's 3,000th hit.
White's broadcast partner, Denny Matthews, had kind words about his former booth mate. "The thing I remember most is how we assimilated with each other in the booth. I think it takes the better part of a year working with somebody you've never worked with before, to figure them out and what their style is and their sense of humor. And we got along, I thought, very, very well," Matthews said.
Don Free, a producer-engineer for Royals broadcasts said that White's greatest quality was his kindness. "When I got the [Royals] job in '86, he made sure I knew all the ballparks, where the booths were and just gave me a great tour of everything," Free said. "Everybody respected Fred White -- everybody."
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