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Howard called me on April 30th to give his annual list of things he did and saw this past year. He welcomed two grandchildren into the world. Two months ago he moved to Atlanta to be close to his kids and family. We made plans for him to come spend time with my family last weekend. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. He had a cardiac arrest last Wednesday day and was hospitalized. Thankfully I was able to fly and be with him for the last five days. This morning his body finally failed him. He was an amazing friend until the end my world was a better place because he was part of it. I’ll close this thread with a story he told me. I recall it went something like this.

Howard and I were watching the Dodgers game on television one day. Vin Scully Scully was crooning about the improbability of Gene Baker’s performance against Sandy Koufax. I asked Howard, “ Was there a pitcher you owned during your playing days?” He laughed and said, Yes, there was this guy in the Cubs organization that couldn’t seem to get me out. I counted the days until I was able to face him because I knew I was going to get fat. I couldn’t wait to get to the park on those days. I knew he knew it too. The second half of the season I saw him on road trip. My first at bat I stepped in the box and dug in. I looked out at him and something wasn’t right. He just looked different. He looked way too confident. He threw me the first pitch. It was in on my hands. I took the pitch and suddenly it disappeared moving down and away catching the outside corner for a strike. I was shocked. I had never seen a pitch do that before. I looked at the catcher. He was grinning. I looked out him and he was smiling too. I think he rung me up three times that day. He only threw me that same pitch over and over and over again. I knew it was coming and I still couldn’t do anything with it.” He laughed and said, “I don’t think I ever got a hit off of Greg Maddux ever again.”

This picture how I will remember Howard, young, full of life, and chasing his dream. For the life of me I can’t figure out why Mike Piazza was allowed to wear my friend Howard’s number.