After playing college baseball at Ohio University, McKinney was selected in the first round (14th overall) of the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He was assigned to the Double-A Evansville White Sox, and batted .261 with seven home runs and 37 runs batted in over 86 games at shortstop.\n', '

The following season, McKinney spent most of the year injured. He split the 1969 season between the Double-A Columbus White Sox and the Triple-A Tucson Toros, playing just 11 games at each level. While at Columbus, he played in the outfield for the first time in his professional career, appearing in six games there.\n', '

McKinney started the 1970 season with Tucson, where he batted .303 with six home runs and 41 RBIs in 62 games. He was called up to the major league White Sox in June, making his debut on June 26 against the Minnesota Twins. Despite never having played the position professionally, he started the game at third base, handling both chances he had without incident. He scored his first major league run in the second after reaching on a César Tovar error, and got his first major league hit off Jim Kaat in the fifth inning.\n', '

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