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On this date in area sports history …
Five years ago on this date, Jan. 25, 2004, the News-Sun published an update on pitcher Rick White. Complete story on the jump:
Published Jan. 25, 2004
ANOTHER FRESH START FOR WHITE
By Kermit Rowe
Here’s an image for you: Springfield veteran major-league pitcher Rick White as a surfer dude.
Gnarly, huh?
Hey, he’s planning on a trip to California soon, so it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
OK, so maybe it is out of the realm of possibility.
“I don’t think I’m going to go out there and come back at the end of the season with blonde hair,” said White on Thursday from his home in frigid, icy Springfield. “I’ve been kidding my wife that I was going to let my hair grow out and bleach it blonde.”
But seriously, folks. White recently signed a minor-league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which will be his eighth team in 11 years in the majors. And he’d like nothing better than being in the City of Angels come April.
“Small town, big town; Ohio and L.A. That’s pretty much night and day as far as I’m concerned,” said the veteran right-hander, who has a 4.17 career ERA. “But I made it through New York and I actually enjoyed it there, so I can make it through L.A.”
There will be some adjustments for this midwest boy, though.
“The main thing I’m going to have to get used to is the three-hour time difference,” White said. “The one good thing about it is I can talk to the kids about their day before the game and they’ll be home and getting ready for bed.
“Game time now will be past their bed time. At least they won’t see me do bad.”
White was kiddingly referring to his nightmare stay with the Chicago White Sox at the beginning of last season. Things started bad, then got worse. Before he knew it, it was early summer and he was looking for work again. A 1-2 record and 6.61 ERA will put many a pitcher in the unemployment line.
“That month of May was the worst month I have ever had in my career,” he said. “Mechanics-wise, I didn’t know if what I was doing was right or wrong.
“Things didn’t work out in Chicago, but I think they worked out in Houston.”
They worked out so well White thought he was going to be back with the Astros. After all, he had a 3.72 ERA in 15 games there. But he has been fooled before.
“I don’t want to worry each winter about where I’m going to play the next season,” said White. “This is the third winter in a row when I came back thinking I was going to be some place and then it worked out that I wasn’t.
“I guess if I could figure all of that stuff out, I wouldn’t need an agent, I guess.”
White has kept his agent busy. This will be his eighth major-league team.
“I think I’ve officially become a journeyman,” he said with a laugh. “I saw where Jesse Orosco retired a couple of weeks ago and I was trying to figure if I had been with as many teams as he had.”
Turns out, he hasn’t. Not yet, at least.
“I’m not going to hang around as long as Jesse,” he continued. “At best, I’ll try to stay until I’m 40.”
White just turned 35, so that’s four or five more seasons he’s hoping to get in before calling it quits. He has 11 years of big-league experience so far.
“The political part of the game is taking over,” he said.
“Unless you have a spectacular year, you are looking at being a free agent. And then the market is flooded and it is hard finding a good fit.”
In the last couple of seasons, he’s had a hard time finding one. But this year, in a lot of ways, White is starting fresh. Coming into spring training with a minor-league contract is the main reason.
“It’s the first time I’ve had that in I don’t know how long,” he said. “I think it is my first one. Hopefully, it will be my last.”
“It’s actually going to make spring training a little bit different for me. Last year, I went in and just got ready to go. This year, it’s more of a competitive thing.
“I’m in pretty good shape,” he added. “I think I am going to have a big year.”
Where he fits in to the Dodgers plans, though, remains to be seen.
“I’m not real sure,” he said. “A lot is going to be determined on how I throw this spring. I know I can help the team out. Like I told the last five managers I’ve played for, `Just give me the ball.’ I pitch better when I go out there a lot.
“The last couple of years, I haven’t seen the ball quite as much. But I’m excited about playing for the Dodgers. They are a good team, and it’s a new experience.”
Apparently, even though they offered him only minor-league deal, the Dodgers are excited about White.
“I talked to Dan Evans (the Dodgers’ general manager) myself and he said they wanted to bring me to spring training with aspirations to make the team,” White said. “With (veteran Paul) Shuey having surgery and (set-up man Paul) Quantrill gone, there are going to be holes to fill.
“I told them I’d do anything they want. Basically, they said it is my job to lose.”
White doesn’t plan on losing it, either, because he’s tired of bouncing from team to team _ even if his reputation a solid second-half-of-the-season performer has gotten him work to date.
“The bad thing about it is I get released in the first half of the season,” he said about his recent ups and downs. “Then I have to get picked up by a team in the second half. I just want to help a team for the entire year.”
One thing’s for sure, White is happy to be back in Florida for spring training.
“The last two years were the first two years I’ve ever had spring training in Arizona,” he said. “Then coming back here, I don’t know if that had something to do with it or not. I’m a big humidity, hot weather kind of guy.”
He also focusing on the mental aspects, which might have been the culprit in the past.
“Most of people’s mistakes are mental,” he said. “I’m taking the new attitude that I’m in Florida and the ball is going to break the way it is supposed to.”
But whether he’s in Florida or California, Springfield is still where White’s heart is.
“I just like coming home,” he said. “All the guys I grew up with I still hang out with. All of us have kids the same age. It makes it a lot easier than moving the family around just to live some place warm.”
It’s a safe bet Springfield will be a part of his future, too _ a future he is already starting to lay some foundation for.
He had a line on hosting a show for the Outdoor Channel last spring, but that one wiggled off the hook.
“The Outdoor Channel was bought out and the show I was going to take over got its number of shows cut from 26 to 13. So the guy who is doing it can handle that,” he said. “It happens. I’ve talked to plenty of people about doing shows the last few of years, and I’ve got good information on how do do a show. So things could still happen.”
If not, White is considering a new post-retirement direction _ coaching.
“I don’t want to get into professional coaching; I’m done with that part of the game,” he said. “I want to work with guys and help them get there. That way I can stay home with my family.
“Jay Lewis (the baseball coach at Wittenberg) said I can come over and give him some help once I’m done.
“It’s going to be fun either way, coaching or hunting _ or a little bit of both.”
That’s because this family man at heart, and self-proclaimed baseball journeyman by trade, will get to finally settle down with his family year-round.
That’s good news for his wife, two daughters and 16-month-old son Hunter (not to mention his parents, who also live in town).
In fact, he’s already training Hunter on how to live up to his name.
“He knows when he sees my camouflage clothing to get his on,” proud papa White said with a chuckle. “ He’ll look at the binoculars, but not through them. He enjoys riding around looking for deer, but he hasn’t got that hunting thing down yet.”
No problem there, though, That hunting thing, be it for a job or a deer, is something White has gotten down pat.
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