Catching up with Marlins champion Devon White

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

This season marks the 25th anniversary of the 1997 World Series championship ballclub. In this latest installment, we catch up with outfielder Devon White.

In November 1995, the Marlins signed White, at the time a two-time All-Star and a seven-time Gold Glover. He slashed .274/.325/.455 in 146 games in '96, then battled an Achilles injury for most of '97 that limited him to just 74 games. Despite a down season, the 34-year-old knocked the go-ahead grand slam in the NL Division Series-clinching Game 3 against the Giants. White would go on to collect four extra-base hits in the World Series.

MLB.com: How much of a toll did the injury take on you physically and mentally?

White: The toll, of course, is watching the game and not being able to do what you're capable to help the team. But at the same time, what did help was we were still winning ballgames with the person that was in there replacing me. When you have teammates that can pick you up, it helps ease the pain that you're injured.

MLB.com: You won the World Series twice before with the Blue Jays. What did you learn from those experiences?

White: You can't really teach experiences. I've been here before, so I knew what it took, and I knew how to basically prepare my body for those moments, get ready to play important games. It's experience. You can't really teach experience, and being that part of my career, I had the experience to know what to do and what not to do.

MLB.com: You missed all that time with injury, so what did it mean to hit that grand slam in the NLDS?

White: The tough part of going through the season is of course timing. When you're hitting the ball, it's all about getting your timing. Most of the time, nothing is wrong with your swing, it's all about timing. During that year, I struggled a lot with the bat because I didn't see that much live pitching and [only played] 70-something games. That's not a lot, for me at least, because I averaged like 150 games a year. So playing that many games, I'm not seeing enough pitching.

During that time when I was hitting in Candlestick [Park], I didn't like playing there because it makes good defensive players look bad. That series I was struggling, so of course, [manager Jim] Leyland put me in the bottom of the order. And the situation came up, which I faced that left-handed pitcher before. I knew they were just going to come at me, being at the bottom of the lineup. They don't want to get back to the top of the lineup, where [Gary] Sheffield and [Moises] Alou and those guys are. He threw me a fastball, and I hit the grand slam. Speaking about it, just when I came home and touched home plate, we won that game. After the game, I said to Leyland, "Go ahead, let me hit eighth again and see what happens." I was a little annoyed because I was hitting eighth, and all my career I was always at the top of the lineup.