I was very sad to hear about the passing of Edward R. "Link" Crosby yesterday.

In my 20 years here at the Freeman, I got to know Mr. Crosby a little bit, from the time he announced Kingston Mariners games at Gruner Field when I was a reporter to the time he was a Freeman columnist and I was assistant sports editor to the times he would call me as sports editor to discuss something in the paper or something he had seen.

I couldn't agree more with my former boss, Ed Palladino, who described Mr. Crosby as the consummate gentleman. Mr. Crosby truly was that.

But what I remember most was his love and knowledge of my favorite sport -- baseball. Sitting at a Mariners game, Mr. Crosby and I would talk baseball until the next thing I knew the final out of the game I was reporting on had been recorded. He loved to test me with baseball trivia, which I will admit I failed miserably most of the time.

He was a warm, engaging gentleman.

I've had the pleasure of meeting many great people in this job over the years. Two I would put at the top of my list are Mr. Crosby and Saugerties sports guru Jack Keeley. Mr. Keeley passed away several years ago. And now Mr. Crosby is gone, too.

I bet there's one whopper of a sports discussion going on in Heaven right now.