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Joyner Michael White
Houston Astros
Outfield
Born: December 18, 1938, Detroit, MI
Signed: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams: Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965
Mike White played in parts of three seasons for the Colt .45s/Astros, seeing by far his most action in 1964 when he appeared in 89 games. White was signed by the Indians before the 1959 season where his father, former Major Leaguer Jo-Jo White, was serving as a coach. Unfortunately, the younger White suffered a serious knee injury in an intrasquad game in 1958, almost ending his career and causing him to run with a limp. White bounced back, landing twice with expansion teams - the Angels in early 1961 and the Colt .45s in late 1961. In 100 career games, White hit .264 with 27 RBIs. After leaving the Astros, White played in the minor league systems of the Angels and Cubs before retiring in 1969.
July 20, 2020 from Scottsdale, AZ - Card #129
I continued to be fairly active with my eBay purchases in July, as we prepared for the abbreviated 60-game baseball season to start. Having been somewhat haphazard in my eBay hunts up until this point, I decided to focus and specifically try to complete the first series of our 1965 Topps set. I added 10 cards to our set from the first series (cards #1 through #88) from Scottsdale Baseball Cards, and the envelope with our new cards arrived on July 20th. As of this writing, we need 39 of the 88 cards from the first series so we're more than half-way there. The priciest card still needed is the A.L. Home Run Leaders card (#5) featuring Mickey Mantle. This White card entered our collection for $2.
The Card / Astros Team Set
The Colt .45s officially changed their name to the Astros on December 1, 1964, and that was way too late for Topps to adjust the Houston cards set to appear in the first series of the 1965 Topps set. Topps played it safe and went with "Houston" and a generic Texas logo on the front of the Astros' first series cards.
White's father, Jo-Jo, was an outfielder for nine big league seasons between 1932 and 1944 with the Tigers, Athletics and Reds. He was a regular for the 1935 Tigers team that eventually won the World Series. Following his playing days, Jo-Jo White was a coach for the Indians (1958-1960), Tigers (1960), Athletics (1961-1962), Braves (1963-1966) and Royals (1969). He appeared on a floating heads coaches card with the Indians in the 1960 Topps set.
1965 Season
White made the Astros opening day roster, and was used sparingly throughout the first month of the season. In eight games, he went hitless in nine at-bats and was demoted to the Oklahoma City 89ers in the Pacific Coast League. With the 89ers, White was a regular outfielder and hit .281 in 118 games.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #492
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2): 1964-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #155
7 - White non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/24/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #30 Jim Bouton - New York Yankees
Next Card: #32 Herman Franks MG - San Francisco Giants
Mike White is one of only a few in the 1965 set with "45s" on his cap. I have about 50% of these cards, and I've only seen White, Turk Farrell, and Walt Bond. The rest of the "Houston" players are capless.
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