The National Baseball Hall of Fame has announced that Bill White will be the 2026 recipient of the Buck O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award.

White will be honored as part of the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 25 in Cooperstown, New York.

White was an eight-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner who spent the majority of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he helped them win the 1964 World Series.  After his playing career, White broadcast New York Yankees games for 18 seasons, but left that when the opportunity arose to become the President of the National League.  White served in that capacity from 1989 to 1994 and oversaw the expansion that added the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins.

White becomes the seventh winner of the Buck O’Neil Award.  The previous winners were O’Neill (2008), Roland Hemond (2011), Joe Garagiola (2014), Rachel Robinson (2017), David Montgomery (2020), and Carl Erskine (2023).

We here at Notinhalloffame would like to congratulate Bill White for his impending honor.

Hall of Fame season continues with the Baseball Hall’s announcement of the eight names on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Managers/Executives/Umpires.  The Committee will meet on December 3 at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, and the results will be shared that night at 7:30 on MLB Tonight on the MLB Network.

To enter the Hall, the candidate must receive 75 percent of the 16-person group. 

Here are the nominees:

Cito Gaston:  Gaston managed the Toronto Blue Jays for 12 seasons, and he helmed to back-to-back World Series wins in 1992 and 1993.  Making history as the first African-American Manager to win a World Series, Gaston has a career record of 894-837, and is a member of the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence.

Davey Johnson:  Johnson managed 17 seasons in the Majors, with his career-highlight leading the New York Mets to a 1986 World Series Championship.  Johnson won two Manager of the Year Awards (1997 & 2012) and had a record of 1,372-1,071.

Jim Leyland:  Leyland is a three-time Manager of the Year (1990, 1992 & 2006), and led the Florida Marlins to their improbable 1997 World Series title.  With a career record of 1,769-1,728 and helmed the United States to victory in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Ed Montague:  Montague served as an Umpire from 1974 to 2009 and was the Crew Chief in four World Series.

Hank Peters:  Peters worked 42 years as a Baseball Executive, first becoming a General Manager with the Kansas City Athletics helping them build their dynasty.  He would later serve as the GM in Baltimore, where he constructed their 1983 Championship squad.  He later rebuilt the Cleveland Indians into a power in the 90s.

Lou Piniella:  A 23-year veteran as a Manager, Piniella brought Cincinnati a World Series in 1990, and was a three-time Manager of the Year (1995, 2001 & 2008).  He had a lifetime record of 1,835-1,712.

Joe West: West umpired from 1976 to 2021, officiating a record 43 years and 5,460 Games.  He worked six World Series and ten League Championship Series.

Bill White:  White was the first African American President of a League, having served in that capacity in the NL from 1989 to 1994.

You know that we will be paying attention December 3!

Bill White began his career with the New York Giants in 1956m, but it was not until he made it to St. Louis in 1959 where his career began to take off.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  Eventually, we plan to do that for the major colleges in the NCAA.  As such, it is news to us that the St. Louis Cardinals has announced that Tom Herr, John Tudor and Bill White were chosen for their franchise Hall of Fame.

Herr and Tudor were elected via the fan vote.  They beat out Keith Hernandez, Edgar Renteria, Steve Carlton, Lee Smith and Matt Morris to earn this honor.  White entered by the Red Ribbon Panel, which was created for players from an earlier era.

Tom Herr, Second Base (1979-88).  Herr was a member of the Cardinals 1982 World Series Championship Team, and he collected 1,021 for the franchise.  His best season was in 1985, where he was an All-Star, was fifth in MVP voting and batted .303 with 110 Runs Batted In.  While he was never a Gold Glove winner, he was a good fielder and had a Defensive bWAR of 4.0 for St. Louis.

John Tudor, Pitcher (1985-88 & 1990).  After the 1984 season, John Tudor was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to St. Louis, and the southpaw proceeded to have the best season of his career.  Tudor finished second in Cy Young voting after going 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA and a National League leading 0.938 WHIP.  Tudor was a huge reason that the Cardinals won the Pennant, and Tudor won his first two starts, losing the third against Kansas City.  Tudor had a 62-26 record for the Redbirds.

Bill White, First Base (1959-65 & 1969).  An All-Star in five of his years in St. Louis, White was a member of 1964 World Series Championship Teams.  Playing at First Base, White was considered one of the best defensive players at that position, and he won six of his seven Gold Gloves as a Cardinal.  White had two top-ten MVP finishes and as a Cardinal had 1,241 Hits, 140 Home Runs and a .298 Batting Average.

The Cardinals Hall of Fame came into existence in 2014, and has quickly become one of the best franchise-run Halls of Fame.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to the impending members of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Some of the most meaningful legacies in baseball history are created by men who didn't originally see the sport as their lifelong passion, but rather as an unexpected turn in their journeys. Bill White was a talented pre-med student at Hiram College, aiming for medical school when a simple tryout suddenly changed everything. Leo Durocher, known for knocking down giants, was so captivated by White’s natural athletic skill that he signed him immediately. As one of the first Black players to navigate the highly segregated Carolina League in the early 1950s, White faced significant racial challenges but handled them with remarkable dignity. Even after earning a spot on the major-league team, a period in the U.S. Army and the rise of Willie McCovey made him feel blocked in San Francisco. Recognizing his exceptional talent, the St. Louis Cardinals made their move, trading for White in March 1959 and welcoming him into their main team right away.

Though the Cardinals initially experimented with White in the outfield to accommodate Stan Musial, he permanently seized the first-base bag by 1960 and instantly set a new gold standard for defensive excellence in the National League. For the next six seasons, White put on an absolute clinic at the cold corner, sweeping six consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards in a Redbird uniform. He wasn’t just a defensive vacuum; he was an exceptionally steady metronome at the plate. Across his seven consecutive seasons as a core pillar in St. Louis, White never failed to reach 150 hits in a season, and he cleared the elusive .300 batting average four separate times.

Between 1961 and 1965, he demonstrated excellent power hitting in the middle of the lineup, achieving five consecutive seasons with 20 or more home runs. His most outstanding season was in 1963 when he set personal bests with 200 hits, 27 home runs, and led the league with 109 RBIs, showcasing a remarkable performance.

White’s exceptional production and elite defensive skills were the cornerstone of the legendary 1964 world championship team. During that summer, he earned one of his five All-Star selections as a Cardinal, amassing 191 hits and 102 RBIs. His solid infield defense was vital in leading St. Louis to a dramatic seven-game victory in the Fall Classic against the New York Yankees.

Although his playing career ended after a brief, late-career stint in 1969, White’s influence on baseball grew into groundbreaking and historic realms. Known for his clear, composed style and sharp baseball intellect, he broke racial barriers by becoming the first African-American play-by-play announcer for the Yankees in 1971. He reached the top of the sport's executive ranks in 1989, making history again as the first person of color to serve as President of the National League.

White finished his St. Louis career with 1,241 hits, 140 home runs, 651 RBIs, and a.298 average over 1,046 games. His notable impact was recognized in 2020 when he was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Bill White got his start late in the National Hockey League like so many in the late 1960’s as he was one of the many who when the 1967 expanded from six to twelve teams would receive an opportunity and at age 28 he debuted for the Los Angeles Kings where he showed off an intelligent defensive game, but it was when he was traded to Chicago that his game reached the next level. 

The NHL expansion sure was a friend to Bill White, as at the age of 28, he found a spot with the Los Angeles Kings and would emerge as their top blueliner.  White’s skills would increase into his 30s, and a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks would see him make three consecutive Second Team All-Stars while also being voted third in Norris Trophy voting each time.  He also went to six All-Star Games.