RIP Fred White

Fred White, a Royals radio voice for 25 years, died Wednesday due to complications from melanoma, a day after announcing his retirement following a 40-year relationship with the club.

White teamed with Denny Matthews on broadcasts from 1973-98, and since had served as the team’s director of broadcast services and the Royals Alumni.

His retirement was due to health issues, and he died in hospice care.

As players, managers and front office executives embrace the esoteric statistics, teams increasingly want their radio announcers just as fluent in the language of WAR, VORP and B.A.B.I.P. (Those stand for wins above replacement, value over replacement player and batting average on balls in play, for those of you dusting off your radios as the season begins.)

“They wanted a broadcaster who is at least comfortable with exploring the idea of discussing advanced statistics and what they mean,” ...

I like Dave Raymond and was sorry to hear he’d been let go by Houston. I like him even more after this piece:

One plucky kid named Terry leaned in to interrupt my chat with Jon Morosi late Sunday night.  The evening was winding down for me.  Jon was still chasing a story.

Terry was something else.  He was searching for job advice.  He was the type of kid whom you could easily dismiss if deadlines and editors pressed.  Jon paid attention though.  So did I.

We dug a little deeper and learned ...