finalyear bats death_date death_place birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date image article_title debutteam name throws
1871 unknown 17 march 1872 caton , new york caton , new york 1871 september 27 .257 18 70 outfielder cleveland forest citys batting average hits at bats may 4 7 december 1850 elmer white.jpg elmer white
 cleveland forest citys elmer white unknown
elmer white

willard elmer white -lrb- december 7 , 1850 -- march 17 , 1872 -rrb- was a major league baseball player in 1871 with the cleveland forest citys .
he was forest city 's regular right fielder and back-up catcher until he broke his arm running into a fence on june 22 .
white was the cousin of deacon white and will white .
he batted .257 in 1871 and finished 5th in the national association with 6 strikeouts , a high number for that era .
white had the misfortune of becoming the first recorded professional baseball player to die when he died in his hometown of caton , new york at the age of 21 , shortly before the beginning of the 1872 season .
