RIP, Nick Wilhite

One of my boys of summer died Dec. 14.

Nick Wilhite, a member of the 1961 Greenville Spinners in the South Atlantic League, died after a battle with cancer, his son told The Los Angeles Times.

I stumbled across the information on Baseball-reference.com while pondering what to write as an entry today.

Minor League Baseball had left Greenville after the 1955 season, then returned for 1961, the summer I turned nine years old and about the time I realized I was a baseball nut.

Wilhite was one of the Spinners' best players, compiling a 16-9 record, a 1.80 ERA and 23 complete games for the Class A team. He struck out 160 batters in 231 innings.

His name was frequently in the headlines of The Greenville News and made a big impression on me.

I remember his last name being spelled with one "l". But many of the references on the Internet and on his baseball cards spell it W-i-l-l-h-i-t-e.

He made the majors by 1963, pitching a 2-0 shutout for the Dodgers in his debut June 16.

But Wilhite never reached the promise he had shown in Greenville, going 6-12 in the bigs in 58 games from 1963-67.

His son reports Wilhite had some substance abuse problems, but later conquered them and served as a counselor himself.

I am reasonably sure this is a team photo of the 1961 Greenville Spinners, because the franchise was only here two seasons, and I have another team photo positively identified as the 1962 Spinners.

I don't have a roster to go by, but after looking at another couple of pictures of Wilhite, I'm reasonably sure he is No. 15, the fourth player from the left in the second row. The picture was taken as Meadowbrook Park, the minor-league stadium in Greenville from the 1930s through 1972.

By the way, the Spinners' manager was Roy Hartsfield (No. 7, next to the man in street clothes on the left of the back row), who went on to manage the Toronto Blue Jays.