Former Royals second baseman Frank White chose to reminisce about his playing days for much of the time Tuesday night in a book launch attended by hundreds of admirers at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library.

   White adopted a conciliatory stance regarding his messy dispute with the Royals, which culminated following the 2011 season in his ouster as the analyst for the club's games on Fox Sports Kansas City.

   White's new book -- One Man's Dream, My Town, My Team, My Time -- is an autobiographical look at his career in baseball. Co-author Bill Althaus, a sportswriter with the Independence Examiner, led White through a conversational interview before White took questions from the floor.

   The book should be available locally within a few days, and is already selling on amazon.com for $24.95. White said he chose to write the book at this time because he no longer expects to be a major-league manager, which he once viewed as the logical conclusion to his career in baseball.

   What became clear Tuesday, if there was ever any doubt, is White remains a tremendously popular figure in Kansas City. The Library arranged for a closed-circuit feed of White's program to accommodate those unable to secure seats in the main hall.

   Released excerpts from the publisher, Ascend Books, highlighted White's public spat with the Royals and promoted Tuesday's program as "the first time" that he "publicly discusses his dramatic split." 

   But White chose to characterize those events as a small part of the book and even suggested he felt some remorse for how they unfolded. He also said he would "never say never" to a possible reconciliation with a club that retired his No. 20 after an 18-year career that included five All-Star Game selections and eight Gold Gloves for defensive excellence.