PDA

View Full Version : YOUR 1966 BRAVES: #4 Jo Jo White



rico43
02-22-2015, 09:27 AM
#4 JO JO WHITE
Coach

What came before: Jonah Clifford White was a Georgia native who finally had a chance to come home, however brief, with the 1966 Braves. A lefty hitting outfielder, he had two separate careers. Breaking in with Detroit in 1938, played for the Tigers for seven seasons, peaking out with a .313 average for the American League champions in 1934. He then joined independent team Seattle in the super-sized Pacific Coast League, and over four seasons there hit between .287 and .295 while averaging close to 600 at-bats per season.
http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii562/ricocarty25/66WHITE001_zpsf834f311.jpg
He was summoned back to the majors by the talent starved Phillies during the war, and he was able to play regularly for two seasons, until the veterans returned. He then moved back to the minors and was called on to manage Seattle for four seasons, then spent most of the 50s as a skipper-for-hire for San Antonio (1951), Keokuk (54) and Mobile (56) before landing a coaching job with the Cleveland Indians in 1958. He also had stints with the Tigers and Athletics before being tabbed by Bobby Bragan to join the Braves in 1963.

That 1966 season: Following Bragan to Atlanta, White spent the '66 season as the Braves' third base coach, as well as outfield and baserunning coach. But in the backwash of Bragan's firing, he left the Braves at the end of the season.

What came after: White initially stepped back into the minors as skipper of Dallas/Fort Worth in 1967, then returned to the majors to help get the Kansas City Royals off the ground for manager Joe Gordon – his skipper previously for the Indians, Tigers and Athletics. In fact, in 1950, Gordon, as Cleveland manager, was traded from Cleveland to Detroit for the then-Tigers manager, Jimmie Dykes, White was “traded” with his boss, joining the Tigers.
When Gordon left the Royals, White left baseball. He died in 1986 in his adopted home state of Washington at age 77. White was postumously inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
His son, Mike White, played for the Houston Colt 45s/Astros from 1963-65.