The Short-Lived Baseball Academy that Produced Gold Glover Frank White

In 1970, the Kansas City Royals tried something unheard of. They established a baseball academy for young athletes who went undrafted by Major League Baseball, the NFL, or the NBA. It was the brainchild of Royals’ owner Ewing Kauffman, and it was revolutionary. The idea was to identify skilled athletes who might blossom into professional ballplayers given the right instruction and, at the same time, give the young men two years of free college tuition. The academy would not only teach the cutoff play, it would teach life skills such as how to balance a checkbook, how to eat right, and what to say in a job interview. The Royals instituted policies that are common today, such as testing eyesight and the use of video to analyze mechanics of the players. Kauffman loved the idea, he considered it the best decision in all his years in baseball.

The first graduating class from the Royals Baseball Academy included Frank White, a marvelous defensive shortstop who was switched to second base in his second season with Kansas City. White had attended Longview Community College in the Kansas City suburbs, but wasn’t considered a top baseball prospect. But his range was still that of a shortstop and his arm was as strong as any in the game. He learned to play second base on the fast astroturf in Kansas City. He developed techniques to quicken his throws and to use the turf to bounce the ball on one hop to first. He played deep…very deep…which allowed him to get to fast-traveling balls and also gather in popups hit into the outfield. He won eight Gold Gloves and played his entire 18-year career as a Royal.

Kauffman let his crusty baseball men talk him out of funding the Academy after a few years, and he regretted that for the remainder of his life. It yielded U.L. Washington and a few others, but the crown jewel of the experiment was Frank White, one of the best fielding second baseman in baseball history and a key member of the 1985 World Champion Royals.

White played extremely shallow, closer to the bag than most second basemen. That was because he had exceptional range to his left. Even on the quick carpet that blanketed Royals Stadium, White was able to field ground balls hit into the hole between first and second and get the throw off. Similar to Dave Concepcion at shortstop, White perfected the art of defense on an artificial surface by a second baseman.