Letter to the Editor:Remember Bill White

The New York Times
April 10, 2011 Sunday

To the Sports Editor:

Re ''Away From the Rat Race, but Writing Bluntly About It,'' April 3: Richard Sandomir's poignant article reminded me what a special man Bill White is. I've played in the schoolyards and sandlots of New York City, and coached on many levels, but no instructional book ever taught me more about the institution of baseball than White.

Whether I was listening on my transistor radio or watching on television, White and his fellow Yankees announcers Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer informed, entertained and essentially held class on the nuances of the game.

Whatever anyone thinks of White's body of work or persona, reading accounts of when he visited Rizzuto at the end of his life ''holding hands and saying nothing'' for 45 minutes resonates with his humanity and transcends any of his accomplishments on the field, in the booth or as an executive.

Chris N. Karalekas
Huntington, N.Y.