Matt White (baseball, Born 1977)
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Matthew Joseph White (born August 19, 1977) is an American former
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB)
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
who played for the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
,
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
, and
Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...
between 2003 and 2005. He made news in 2007 for his possession of a potentially-lucrative stone
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
in his native Massachusetts.


Baseball career


Amateur

A native of
Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...
, White attended
Wahconah Regional High School Wahconah Regional High School is a high school in Dalton, Massachusetts, United States and is part of the Central Berkshire Regional School District. The school serves the towns of Becket, Cummington, Dalton, Hinsdale, Peru, Washington, and ...
in
Dalton, Massachusetts Dalton is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Dalton is a transition town between the urban and rural portions of Berkshire County. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The populatio ...
and played his college baseball at Clemson. In 1997, he played
collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...
with the
Chatham A's The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in ...
of the
Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...
, where he was named a league all-star. He was first drafted by the
Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
in the amateur draft. He has been through the Rule V Draft twice. In , he was drafted by the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
. In , he was drafted by the
Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
.


Professional

White pitched in seven different organizations over nine professional seasons. He has three stints in the majors: he pitched three games for the Boston Red Sox in 2003 before being traded to the
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
, for whom he pitched three more games in the same season. In , he pitched one game for the
Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...
. In seven major-league games, White pitched 9 innings with an 0-2 record. He allowed 17
hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...
, eight walks and 18 runs, for a 16.76
ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...
and a
WHIP A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...
of 2.59. In in the minor leagues, he played for the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders, are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the S ...
, where he played 38 games, starting 13 of them. He had a record of 7-9 with a 3.58 ERA and 69
strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...
s. He also played for the
Navegantes del Magallanes Navegantes del Magallanes B.B.C., commonly known as Navegantes del Magallanes (; ''Strait of Magellan, Magellan Navigators''), or simply Magallanes, are a professional baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP), based in ...
in the
Venezuelan Winter League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (, or LVBP) is the top-level professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Background and predecessors Baseball had been play ...
, where he went 2-4 in ten starts with a 3.40 ERA and 34 strikeouts. White was a non-roster invitee to the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
in . In
spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
, he only allowed one
earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...
in 7 innings. However, he failed to make the major league roster and was optioned to the Las Vegas 51s, the Dodgers Triple-A team. He was 2-4 with a 3.83 ERA in 40 games out of the bullpen for the 51s during the 1st half of the 2007
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 ...
season. On June 25, 2007, he asked for, and was granted, his release from the 51s so that he could sign a contract to play baseball in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. He signed with the
Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...
. He was released on August 15, . On Jan. 2, 2010, The
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, T ...
of the
CPBL The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...
(
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
) announced that they signed White for the 2010 season.
/ref>


Rock discovery

In 2003, White purchased of mountain real estate in
Cummington, Massachusetts Cummington is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 829 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 872 tabulated in 2010. It is part of the Springfield, Mas ...
from his aunt for $50,000, giving her the money she needed to enter a
nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
. His original intention was to build his home, but he found the land to be too hard. When he called a
surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
out to inspect the land, the surveyor found that the land was solid Goshen stone, a type of
mica schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
estimated to be about 400 million years old. Estimates have placed the low estimate of the find at 24 million tons. At current prices (he has been selling the stone for over $100/ton), it is estimated to be worth around $2.5 billion, minus extraction costs. White has begun a small-scale extraction operation, Swift River Stone, and made $600,000 in 2006. He has expressed interest in selling the land, and believes he will get "several million dollars." When a story broke on most sports news outlets about him on February 28, 2007, some of his teammates in spring training started referring to him in the clubhouse as "Mr. Billionaire." In early 2009, White listed the 45± acre property with Boston-based real estate firm, LandVest, Inc., which specializes in the marketing of luxury residences, vacant land and resource-based properties, including timberland. The asking price for the property is available upon request


References


External links

, o
Baseball Reference (Minor, Winter, Japanese and Independent Leagues)
o

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Matt 1977 births Living people Águilas Cibaeñas players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Akron Aeros players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from Boston Boston Red Sox players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Burlington Indians players (1986–2006) Chatham Anglers players Clemson Tigers baseball players Columbus Red Stixx players Kinston Indians players Las Vegas 51s players Major League Baseball pitchers Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New Orleans Zephyrs players Omaha Royals players Pastora de los Llanos players Pawtucket Red Sox players Pittsfield Colonials players Portland Sea Dogs players Sarasota Red Sox players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players Seattle Mariners players Baseball players from Pittsfield, Massachusetts Washington Nationals players 21st-century American sportsmen Watertown Indians players Yokohama BayStars players