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One Man's Dream: My Town, My Team, My Time: My Town, My Team, My Time.
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 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.
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 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.
- GenresBaseball
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2012
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Frank White
3 booksLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Frank White Jr. is an American politician and former professional baseball player, who spent 18 years with the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB).
(source: Wikipedia)
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Frank White Jr. is an American politician and former professional baseball player, who spent 18 years with the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB).
(source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 30, 2023
I enjoyed the book. Being an avid baseball fan I am kind of astonished that I didn’t know much about Frank White.
After reading his book I have a new found respect for him & his game.
After reading his book I have a new found respect for him & his game.
August 1, 2013
Written well-enough to be interesting to those of us who followed the Royals in the 80's. He didn't shrink from how the franchise hurt him, but I wish it went deeper into motives and what was going on behind the scene. Probably the whole story will never be known. But interesting reading about Mr. K and the Academy.
August 2, 2013
Frank White has a reason to complain, and that he does. Not endlessly, but sometimes repeatedly. But the insight he offers into the Royals -- from the glory years to the present day -- is invaluable for most baseball fans (and any KC fan should be interested). More important, however, is the recounting of his early years, facing the challenges and the pressures that he did. A true success story.
October 9, 2017
Former Kansas City Royals second baseman Frank White is my favorite baseball player, so I was going to like this book as long as it was written in English and complete sentences (which it is).
White's biography is a typical locally-written and inconsistently-edited book, tracing his career in the first person. There are some good stories that will elicit smiles. But the dominant theme is his split from the Royals, with whom he parted ways in 2011, as an employee and broadcaster. White thoroughly explains his thoughts and emotions about the split. Too thoroughly, in fact. It's like reading one side of why your parents divorced. After a while it's almost too much, and it overshadows his stellar playing career. The book seems cathartic for Frank though, filled with things he felt he needed to say publicly. Five years after the book was written, some of what he writes is already dated, as he's somewhat made up with the team, and the franchise has undergone a renaissance, winning a World Series in 2015. Die-hard Royals fans will enjoy most of the book; others probably won't be interested.
White's biography is a typical locally-written and inconsistently-edited book, tracing his career in the first person. There are some good stories that will elicit smiles. But the dominant theme is his split from the Royals, with whom he parted ways in 2011, as an employee and broadcaster. White thoroughly explains his thoughts and emotions about the split. Too thoroughly, in fact. It's like reading one side of why your parents divorced. After a while it's almost too much, and it overshadows his stellar playing career. The book seems cathartic for Frank though, filled with things he felt he needed to say publicly. Five years after the book was written, some of what he writes is already dated, as he's somewhat made up with the team, and the franchise has undergone a renaissance, winning a World Series in 2015. Die-hard Royals fans will enjoy most of the book; others probably won't be interested.
June 20, 2014
Frank White was in the Royals in the 70s and 80s, uniquely positioned in the timeline of the club to experience their rise to and fall from prominence. As sports bios go, the bar of quality is usually pretty low as fans are more than happy to have their stars rattle on about their memories. This book is no exception. I loved the stories but even this Royal fan got a little tired of hearing White's lamenting about the end of his career. No harm, no foul; this is nevertheless one of the few if not the only bio from any of the Royals of that era, so it's worth plowing through for any diehard Royals fan.
February 23, 2013
I am so glad I got to hear Frank White speak and get his autograph for this autobiography. He was one of the great players in the Royals' glory years, 8 gold gloves. It was such fun watching those guys play. What makes Frank's story special is that he was a kid from the KC streets who dreamed of playing for the home town team and then saw that dream come true. A real life Cinderella story, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews