Rick White: 2000 N.L. Champion Mets Relief Pitcher (2000-2001)

Richard Allen White was born December 23, 1968 in Springfield, Ohio. The tall 6’ 4” right hander was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 15th round of the 1990 draft. He began his career as a starter as well as a reliever going 4-5 with six saves in his 1994 rookie season, posting a 3.82 ERA.

After two seasons he began moving around and became strictly a reliever throwing a good fast ball, slider & forkball. He would go on to play twelve seasons for twelve different teams mostly used as a middle man. The journeyman pitched for Pittsburgh (1994-1995)& Tampa (1996-1997.

In Tampa the big guy was involved in a batting practice collision with Jim Mecir while chasing a fly ball. White was fine, but Mecir hurt his elbow and missed the rest of the season.

During the summer of 2000 as the New York Mets were on their way to contend for the pennant, but wanted to secure up their bullpen. They made a good trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays sending Paul Wilson & Jason Tyner to Tampa for Rick White & Bubba Trammell.

The Rays were looking for some talent & promoted Tyner by having Jason Tyner bobble head night, but by the time the night arrived he was sent down to the minors. White arrived in New York having gone 0-3 lifetime in his career against the Mets.

In his first game at Shea Stadium he got the win, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3, while pitching a perfect 8th inning, with two strikeouts. A week later he earned a three inning save against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Overall he would go 2-3 with a save and a 3.81 ERA, appearing in 22 games for Bobby Valentine.

2000 Post Season: In the Game #3 of the 2000 NLDS he was the winning pitcher when Benny Agbayani hit his 13th inning walk off HR against the San Francisco Giants. 

He made two appearances in the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals allowing a run in two innings pitched. In the 2000 Subway World Series he made one appearance, allowing a walk & a run in Game #2.

In 2001 he had a busy middle of June, getting credit for two wins, both one inning outings. The first against the Montreal Expos at Shea & second at Chicago in Wrigley Field, against the Cubs a week later. He would also take a loss against the Braves allowing six earned runs in a nightmare of an inning at Shea Stadium on June 23rd.

Also in the month he earned his first save if the year while pitching three scoreless innings in Baltimore in an inter league game against the Orioles. 

Another busy month was August when he went 1-4, including blowing a game in San Diego where he allowed two runs in the 7th inning. Overall he made 55 appearances going 4-5 with ten holds, earning two saves, posting a 3.88 ERA.

In the off season the Mets chose not to resign him for 2002. The journeyman went to Colorado & then St. Louis in 2002 getting to another post season there.

He then pitched for the Chicago White Sox & Houston (2003) Cleveland (2004) Pittsburgh (2005) Cincinnati & Philadelphia (2006) Houston & Seattle (2007).

In his 12 year career he was 42-54 posting a 4.45 ERA with 16 saves in 613 games, striking out 542 batters while walking 289.