Guy Harris "Doc" White (April 9, 1879 – February 19, 1969) was an American left-handed

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 ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He played for two teams, the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, during his career which lasted from 1901 to 1913.

Early life

Born in Washington, D.C., "Doc" White was a graduate of the

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

School of Dentistry.Doc White
- Baseballbiography.com He started his professional baseball career in 1901 with the Phillies. In 1903, he jumped to the White Sox of the new

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Baseball career

From 1903 to 1906, White won at least 16 games each year; his

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

was in the league's top four each year, as well. He led the league in ERA in 1906 with a 1.52 mark and went 18–6. That year, the White Sox won the pennant and their first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. In Game 5, White recorded the first save in Series history. The following season, White set a career-high in wins with 27. He pitched effectively for Chicago until 1912, had an off-year in 1913, and then went to the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

from 1914 to 1915."Doc White Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-23.

Good hitter

He was a good hitting pitcher in his 13-year major league career, posting a .217

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 ...

(278-for-1283) with 147 runs, 2

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 75 RBI, 32

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

and drawing 147

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. White also played 85 games in the outfield and several games at first and second base.

Musician

White also gained some recognition as a composer, publishing at least four songs (such as bestseller "Little Puff of Smoke, Good Night" in 1910) with his co-writer

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...

, who was a sportswriter in Chicago during that period.

Death

White died at age 89 in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

, just eight months after witnessing

Don Drysdale Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire career in Major League Baseball, D ...

surpass his record of 45 consecutive scoreless innings on June 4, 1968. He was the last surviving member of the 1906 World Champion Chicago White Sox.

References

External links

Five Consecutive Shutouts Record Still Held by White
by

Harry Grayson Harry Markey Grayson (May 10, 1894 – September 30, 1968) was an American sportswriter. He was the sports editor of the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1934 to 1963. Selected works by Grayson BaseballWagner and Mathewson Top National Loop ...

, June 5, 1943 * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Doc 1879 births 1969 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers American League ERA champions American League wins champions Philadelphia Phillies players Chicago White Sox players Venice Tigers players Vernon Tigers players Dallas Giants players Navy Midshipmen baseball coaches Baseball players from Washington, D.C. Georgetown University alumni