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Originally Posted by whitehse

I got to "know" Jimmy a bit back in the 80's as he was an outfield instructor for the Cubs when I worked for the team. There was nobody that worked harder in making "his" outfielders better ball players than Jimmy did. I watched him hit fungo after fungo to the outfielders and he would often challenge them in their positioning. It was fun to watch as it was like watching an old master painter create a masterpiece.

I also grew up listening to Jimmy and Harry in the Chicago area. Jimmy would do the White Sox play by play as well as appear on various radio shows in Chicago over the years and he never disappointed the listeners that is for sure.

I also produced a series of mall card shows in the 80's and early 90's in which we brought Chicagoland sports figures out to sign free autographs and Jimmy was one person everyone would ask me about. I was finally able to get a show where Jimmy's schedule was open and he happily signed autographs and chatted with fans for over two hours. I had the honor of sitting next to him and heard him say how much he hated the movie made about his life, how he thought Anthony Perkins was a real p***y and how much he loved the game of baseball. There was one issue that came up as a rather good looking teenage girl came up for his autograph and Jimmy asked the girl how old she was. The girl replied that she was 16 years old and Jimmy then asked her if she wanted some advice. The girl sheepishly said "Sure" and Jimmy proceeded to tell her to stay out of back seats. The poor girl was shocked and embarrassed and I think her father wanted to kill him but Jimmy just sat there and laughed. That was Jimmy.

Baseball will miss this man.