It’s difficult to imagine it’s been 16 years since Whitey’s passing.  My wife and I were in Cape May celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, when I got a phone call from my son Ryan at 7AM that morning.    Ryan told me that Whitey’s son Richard had called a few minutes earlier, and he wanted me to know before it was on the news .  The rest of that day was pretty much a blur.  Whitey had gone from someone I idolized as an eight year old, to a good friend, and someone who’s company I really enjoyed.  In fact two days later, we were supposed to have lunch, instead the city of Philadelphia was preparing for Whitey’s public viewing.  Speaking of our lunches.  What usually started out as an hour, generally turned into two and most times more.  The great thing was, it wasn’t always baseball related.  Whitey was a fascinating guy, who was well versed on any topic. So the topics would go from books, politics, family, basically anything.   We would usually meet at his home, and as I was driving home, I would think to myself “I just had lunch and a two hour conversation with Whitey”.  I would always come away more informed, than when I showed up.   At the time of his Hall of Fame induction in 1995, Whitey said it was one of the happiest days of his life.   To think that a campaign that I started had some effect on that day, is all a fan of Whitey’s could hope for.     Rest In Peace Pal ……………………………jim