Photo Courtesy of Hachette

Opening day has come and gone. Cardinals and Royals fans alike are thinking about baseball, but often sitting in the stands doesn’t tell the full story.

Bill White does.

White knows baseball. He served as a first baseman for the Cardinals, the Giants and the Phillies. Later he became a Yankees broadcaster, and after that he became the National League president. And then he went silent.

In his book, Uppity, published on April 1, White finally speaks out about his lifelong career in the major leagues.

For 17 years, White was wary of media and incredibly private. According to an article in The New York Times, White no longer watches baseball on television or in person. He has an agreement with Major League Baseball that states he won’t have to speak will anyone in “baseball officialdom” for the rest of his life.

He began his career with a tryout for the New York Giants with a $2,500 contract. In 1956, he was playing for the Giants with Willie Mays. He was traded to the Cardinals, and in the book, he describes St. Louis as the “worst city in the league for black players.”

St. Louis Today says that the book is a must-read for Cardinal fans of his age (77), but “his story of grit and integrity in the face of adversity deserves a much wider audience.”