California Angels White was drafted by the
California Angels in the 6th round of the
1981 draft. He made his major league debut in the late stages of the season for
California, but he did not establish himself as a major leaguer until , when he played a full season and hit with power and ran the basepaths with speed. In fact, he hit 24
home runs and stole 32 bases that season; he managed to steal at least fifteen bases and hit fifteen home runs before the All-Star break, and no rookie would do so again until 2022. In , only his second full season, he won his first of seven
Gold Gloves. On September 9, 1989, he became one of the few players in baseball history to get on first base then score by stealing second base, third base, and home.
Toronto Blue Jays On December 2, , he was traded with
Willie Fraser and
Marcus Moore to the
Toronto Blue Jays for
Junior Félix and
Luis Sojo. White won two
World Series and five Gold Glove awards with the Toronto Blue Jays. With a .336 batting average in his post-season career with the
Blue Jays, compared to a .270 regular season average with Toronto, White consistently upped his game to help Toronto reach playoff success. In 1992, White collected 3.9 Defensive
Wins Above Replacement, which led the major leagues. In Game 3 of the
1992 World Series against the
Atlanta Braves, White was the central part of one of the most famous plays in World Series history. With
David Justice batting and runners on first and second base, Justice hit a fly ball which White chased down and caught while jumping into the wall. White then threw the ball to second baseman
Roberto Alomar, who threw to
John Olerud at first to try to double up
Terry Pendleton, but Pendleton had already been called out for running past
Deion Sanders. Olerud promptly threw the ball to third baseman
Kelly Gruber, who chased down Sanders, diving and clipping him on the heel with his glove. However, the umpire,
Bob Davidson, did not see the tag and called Sanders safe, which cost the Jays the second
triple play in World Series history. After the game, Davidson watched the replay and admitted he missed the call. While playing for the team, White appeared on Canadian children's television show
Under the Umbrella Tree, in uniform in what was then known as the SkyDome, talking with characters Jacob Bluejay and Iggy Iguana, in the 1993 episode "Baseball Fever."
Florida Marlins After the
1995 season, White signed with the
Florida Marlins and won another
World Series in , although he only hit .215 in the playoffs that year. He is notable for being the only player to be the batter for the last out of two different World Series in which he was a member of the winning team, as he flew out to
Pete Incaviglia two at-bats prior to
Joe Carter's walk-off home run that ended the 1993 series, and grounded out to his former teammate on the
1993 Toronto Blue Jays Tony Fernández who proceeded to throw
Bobby Bonilla out at home in the play before
Edgar Rentería's walk-off hit to end the 1997 series.
Later years He later played with the
Arizona Diamondbacks, the
Los Angeles Dodgers, and the
Milwaukee Brewers before retiring in . On April 11, 2000, while leading off for the Dodgers as the first batter in the first game at
Oracle Park (then called Pacific Bell Park) in San Francisco, White recorded the first base hit in the ballpark's history, off Giants pitcher
Kirk Rueter.
Career statistics In 1,941 games over 17 seasons, White posted a .263
batting average (1,934-for-7,344) with 1125
runs, 378
doubles, 71
triples, 208
home runs, 846
RBI, 346
stolen bases, 541
bases on balls, .319
on-base percentage and .419
slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .986
fielding percentage playing at all three outfield positions. In 49 postseason games, including three World Series, White batted .296 (56-for-189) with 27 runs, 12 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs, 20 RBI, 7 stolen bases, and 19 walks. ==Coaching career==