Royals Legend Fred White Dies at 76: Broadcaster Voiced Baseball for 40 Years
Fred White, longtime Kansas City Royals broadcaster, died from cancer complications on Wednesday at 76 years-old.
The announcer died just one day after retirement while in hospice after 40 years in service for the organization.
Joining the Royals in 1973, his primary partner was Denny Matthews through the 1998 season. During that time he also broadcasted basketball games for ESPN where he called Big Eight and Big 12 games and commented on the Royals Radio Network.
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"It's kind of stunning," Matthews told The Kansas City Star. "I talked to him two weeks ago. I was in his office, and nothing looked out of the ordinary or sounded out of the ordinary."
"He didn't say anything out of the ordinary. Dang. … Somebody has a heart attack or something, well, you can kind of comprehend that. It's kind of hard to get your hands around this," he added.
White was with the team for six division championships, the American League pennant, and their World Series championship in 1985.
Mike Swanson, the club's vice president for communications and broadcasting said, "We didn't just lose a teammate, we lost a friend. And he was probably a better friend than he was a teammate, and he was a fantastic teammate."
"Fred White has been synonymous with Royals baseball as long as anybody can remember," Swanson continued."There are so many people in Kansas City who, when they hear a voice, they knew it was Royals baseball, and Fred was that voice along with Denny for so many years. He had a huge influence on my life back in the '70s, and I'm personally honored that I had a chance to work with him when I came back to town and wish him and his family nothing but the best."
Prior to Kansas City, he worked for Topeka WIBW-TV and Kansas State.
