White had a 40-year career with the Royals, some of which was spent in charge of the Royals Radio Network and as director of Broadcast Services. When he wasn’t broadcasting for the team, he was calling basketball games.

“Fred White has been synonymous with Royals baseball as long as anybody can remember,” Royals vice president of communications and broadcasting Mike Swanson said when the team announced White’s retirement. “There are so many people in Kansas City who, when they hear a voice, they knew it was Royals baseball, and Fred was that voice along with Denny for so many years. He had a huge influence on my life back in the ’70s, and I’m personally honored that I had a chance to work with him when I came back to town and wish him and his family nothing but the best.”

White reportedly died while under hospice care. Funeral arrangements are pending.

As one of the videos’ descriptions says, Vader was stepping up to the plate for a Pacific League Baseball game in honor of Star Wars Day (May 4).

Anyway, here’s the series of videos.

Unfortunately, what followed was just a baseball game and not five minutes of heavy metal thunder. Still worth a watch.

Note, both Metallica members are wearing Giants jerseys, and have Giants logos on their guitars, as the band is from San Francisco.

The Giants won the game 4-3.

Oh, and here’s Lars throwing out the first pitch:

The 61-year-old Porras suffered a heart attack at Turner Field in Atlanta on Wednesday while setting up his equipment. Nationals Head Trainer Lee Kuntz and Nationals Assistant Coach John Hsu were reportedly able to revive the cameraman in the off-field media room where the incident occurred. They performed CPR and used an automated defibrillator until medical personnel arrived.

According to a Comcast Sportsnet report on the event, Kuntz was informed later that Porras had died at an Atlanta hospital. Kuntz stated that this was the first time he had to use CPR during his job, though the entire Nationals staff receives CPR training each year.

The Associated Press today has reported that a minor league player has been suspended 50 games for using steroids.

According to the report, Brandon Brown tested positive for Stanozolol, a synthetic anabolic steroid. Brown is currently a free agent, and his 50-game ban will begin when (and if) he signs with a new team. He is one of 18 minor league athletes who have been suspended just this year following drug tests.

Brown had most recently played third and second base for the Class A minor league Savannah Sand Gnats, a team which is affiliated with the New York Mets. According to Baseball Reference, Brown hit .222 with 34 RBIs in his last season with the Sand Gnats.

Today, MLB Advance Media announced that they’re expanding the licensed content offerings on the channel. You can expect more highlight clips from every MLB game – available two days after the games are completed. There is also thousands of hours of new archive content available, including videos from MLB.com’s Baseball’s Best Moments library.

The channel will also livestream two games a day – but only if you live outside of the MLB’s core distribution areas. That means to YouTube streaming for baseball fans in North America, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. But the MLB says that this move will help expand the game in new corners of the globe.

“Expanding our partnership with YouTube provides another platform for extending the reach of the thousands of hours of archived baseball content in our library and for delivering live baseball games via the Internet to fans in new markets around the world,” said Kenny Gersh, Senior Vice President, Business Development, MLBAM.

You can catch the new content today on the MLB’s official YouTube channel.

Tampa Bay Rays reporter Kelly Nash almost got plunked in the back of the head with a baseball this past weekend. And the near miss was captured by a once-in-a-lifetime selfie and posted to Instagram.

As the story goes, Nash was in Boston working on a feature on the Tampa Bay Rays. According to Nash, she wanted to snap a photo atop the Green Monster in Fenway Park because her whole family is from Massachusetts.

“I knew they would be so excited to see me working at Fenway Park, and when I went to text them the picture I noticed the baseball by my head!” Nash told Fox Sports Florida.

Most dangerous selfie ever. That happened. @ Fenway Park instagram.com/p/YnywPVl8jP/

— Kelly Nash (@KNashSports) April 27, 2013

“I laughed pretty hard when I saw such a surreal picture that I had no idea I took. I thought, you have got to be kidding me, maybe there ARE really angels in the outfield. I actually brought the movie with me on the trip and had it in my bag at the game.”

Nash says that her producer found the ball and gave it to her, so at least she has some hard evidence of her near-serious injury experience.

Think the Angels in the Outfield saved me because I brought their DVD with me on the trip? #ThoughtSo instagram.com/p/YoGDoil8mc/

— Kelly Nash (@KNashSports) April 27, 2013

Just add this to the growing list of reasons that self-shots are rarely ever a good idea.

A small-town hero from Trion, Georgia, Camp excelled at sports in school and had the support of the entire community when he went on to play for the major leagues in ’76.

“He was our one guy, the local boy who made it big,” said Greg Baker, a former Trion resident. “He was our T-ball coach, the volunteer PE teacher; everybody’s cousin, hometown hero. Every kid in Trion would fight to wear his number 37. We followed every move he made with the Braves — the highs and lows both on, and later, off the field.”

Camp was mostly a low-key player for the Braves, but he had a shining moment when he was called in to pinch-hit during the 18th inning of a game against the Mets. There, he hit the only home run of his career and tied up the game. And despite not being a big name in sports, he is greatly missed and fondly remembered today by those who knew him, on and off the field.

Curran coached both baseball and basketball at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York. His combined wins for both the sports total over 2,600 – more than any other high school coach in the U.S. His winning record and longevity as a coach have earned Curran a place in the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, and seven other halls of fame.

“It’s a very sad day for all of us here at Molloy,” said Richard Karsten, president of Archbishop Molloy. “Coach Curran built a legacy that transcends any traditional notion of coaching high school athletics. To him it was always about the kids. They were the reason for his success. His passing will not only be felt by today’s students, faculty and staff, but generations going back over 50 years.”

Curran was the son of a New York City police officer and grew up in the Bronx. After graduating from St. John’s University, he went on to play minor league baseball. in 1958 he began his coaching career at Archbishop Molloy. Throughout his years of coaching, Curran coached several players who went on to join the NBA, including Kenny Anderson and Kenny Smith.

(Image courtesy Archbishop Molloy High School)

The rumors fueled rampant speculation that the Yankees, who are plagued with injuries, could be getting desperate, and are looking for just about anyone to fill their roster.

Jones is more than just anyone, however. During his 19-year MLB career with the Atlanta Braves, Jones earned eight National League All-Star awards and was the National League’s 1999 MVP. He ended his career in 2012 with a .303 batting average and 468 home runs. The third baseman

As much as the Yankees might want him (and as much as they may be willing to pay him), it seems that Jones is happy with retirement. The baseball star took to Twitter to dispel the rumors that he could soon be seen wearing pinstripes:

Follow @RealCJ10

Chipper Jones
@RealCJ10

Enough with the rumors! While I am flattered about the speculation of being enticed out of retirement, I’m happy with life as a bad golfer!

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20 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Later on, Jones even joked about how the rumors had raised his Twitter follower count:

Follow @RealCJ10

Chipper Jones
@RealCJ10

4 thousand new followers today. Welcome everyone! I guess Yankee rumors help that. Maybe a Sox rumor tmrw? C’mon Rossy, make it happen!

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13 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

(Image via Djh57/Wikimedia Commons)