CHICAGO (AP) — Bill Melton, a star slugger for the Chicago White Sox in the 1970s who later became a fixture on their broadcasts as a pregame and postgame TV analyst for more than two decades, has died. He was 79.
The team said he died early Thursday in Phoenix following a brief illness.
Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, Melton debuted with the White Sox in 1968 and spent eight of 10 major league seasons with the club. “Beltin’ Bill” hit 33 homers in both 1970 and 1971, when he led the American League and made his lone All-Star team. No White Sox player had hit 30 in a season or led the league prior to that.
Melton hit .253 with 160 homers and 591 RBIs in a career that included stops with the California Angels in 1976 and Cleveland Indians in 1977. His 154 homers with the White Sox were a club record until Hall of Famer Harold Baines broke it in 1987.
Melton returned to the White Sox in 1992 as a team ambassador and part-time scout. He worked with Michael Jordan as one of his hitting instructors following his first retirement from the NBA in 1993. Melton joined the TV broadcast team as a pregame and postgame analyst in 1998 and remained in that role until he retired in 2020.
“Bill Melton enjoyed two tremendous careers with the White Sox,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “His first came as a celebrated home run king for White Sox teams in the early 1970s, where ‘Beltin Bill’ brought power to a franchise that played its home games in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. Photos of Bill wearing his home run crown and others of him posing with ballpark organist Nancy Faust still generate smiles to this day. Bill’s second career came as a well-liked and respected pre and postgame television analyst, where on a nightly basis Sox fans saw his passion for the team, win or lose. Bill was a friend to many at the White Sox and around baseball, and his booming voice will be missed.”
Melton is survived by his wife Tess, son Billy, daughter Jennifer and a grandson. ___
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