Waite Hoyt

Waite Hoyt
Pitcher
Born:(1899-09-09)September 9, 1899 Brooklyn, New York,U.S.
Died:August 25, 1984(1984-08-25)(aged 84) Cincinnati, Ohio,U.S.
Batted:Right Threw:Right
MLB debut
July 24, 1918, for the New York Giants
Last MLB appearance
May 15, 1938, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	237–182
Earned run average	3.59
Strikeouts	1,206
Teams
New York Giants(1918) Boston Red Sox(1919–1920) New York Yankees(1921–1930) Detroit Tigers(1930–1931) Philadelphia Athletics(1931) Brooklyn Dodgers(1932) New York Giants(1932) Pittsburgh Pirates(1933–1937) Brooklyn Dodgers(1937–1938)
Career highlights and awards
3×World Serieschampion (1923,1927,1928) AL wins leader(1927)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1969
Election method	Veterans Committee

Waite Charles Hoyt(September 9, 1899 – August 25, 1984) was an American right-handedprofessional baseballpitcherwho played inMajor League Baseballfor seven different teams during 1918–1938. He was one of the dominant pitchers of the 1920s, and the most successful pitcher for theNew York Yankeesduring that decade. He was inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Famein1969.

Early life

Hoyt was born inBrooklyn,New York,to Addison and Louise Benedum Hoyt, and attendedErasmus Hall High School.

Career

Baseball

Despite being aDodgersfan, Hoyt was signed to a professional contract byNew York GiantsmanagerJohn McGrawwhen he was but 15. Because of his extreme youth, he was immediatelynicknamed"the Schoolboy Wonder".

After a brief stint with the Giants, McGraw sent Hoyt to the minors for refinement and experience. Hoyt soon returned to the majors, this time with theBoston Red Sox.His performance there attracted the attention of the Yankees, who acquired him in 1920. In his first season as a Yankee, he won 19 games and pitched three complete games in theWorld Serieswithout allowing anearned run– over his career, he would win sixAmerican Leaguepennants with the Yankees and one with thePhiladelphia Athletics.In his finest years with the Yankees, 1927 and 1928, Hoyt posted records of 22winsand 7losseswith a 2.64earned run average(ERA) and 23 wins and 7 losses with a 3.36 ERA. During his 21-year career, he won 10 or more games 12 times, 11 of them consecutively.

In May 1930, the Yankees traded Hoyt andMark Koenigto theDetroit TigersforOwnie Carroll,Harry Rice,andYats Wuestling.He pitched for eight years after leaving the Yankees in 1930, but did not consistently display similar levels of pitching dominance.

Hoyt finished his career with a win–loss record of 237–182 and an ERA of 3.59. By the time he retired in 1938, he had pitched the most victories in World Series history (his World Series record with the Yankees and A's was 6–4).

As a hitter, Hoyt posted a.198batting average(255-for-1287) with 96runs,100RBIand 40bases on balls.Defensively, he recorded a.966fielding percentagewhich was 9 points higher than the league average at his position.

Hoyt had a total of 36 Major League teammates who would later be elected to the Hall of Fame. As of 2009,no other Hall of Famer has had more Hall of Fame teammates.

Additional/concurrent careers

In addition to the "Schoolboy" moniker appearing on his Hall of Fame plaque, Hoyt was also known as "the Merry Mortician", for when he was not playing baseball, he spent days working as afuneral directorand nights appearing invaudeville.As a vaudevillian, he appeared with many of the most well-known performers of the day, includingJack Benny,Jimmy Durante,George Burns,and others. He kept in shape during the off-season by playing semi-professionalbasketball.He added to his repertoire by becoming an accomplished painter and writer.

Broadcasting

After retiring as a player, Hoyt went into radiobroadcasting.He was heard onWMCAin New York City but left that station to begin "a nightly quarter-hour program" of sports news and commentary onWNEWin New York, beginning October 17, 1938.

During a stint as the host ofGrandstand and Bandstandon WMCA, he tried to audition for the Yankees, but sponsorWheatiesvetoed him out of hand. The common view at the time was that former players did not possess enough education or vocabulary to be successful broadcasters. However, Hoyt was well known for dressing downumpireGeorge Moriartywhen he missed a call by saying, "You're out of your element. You should be a traffic cop so you could stand in the middle of the street with a badge on your chest and insult people with impunity!"

Dodgers voiceRed Barber,however, thought more of Hoyt's abilities and hired him to host the team's post-game shows onWORin 1940. Two years later, Hoyt became the play-by-play voice of theCincinnati Reds,a post he held for 24 seasons. He became as much a celebrity with the Reds as he was while a player. He was well known for calling games exclusively in past tense, which was and still is unusual for sportscasting. Whereas most baseball announcers would say, "Here's the pitch!" Hoyt would say, "There was the pitch!" He told authorCurt Smiththat he felt using past tense was more accurate, because "as I speak to you, what happened a moment ago is gone."

On the evening of August 16, 1948, the Reds played thePittsburgh Pirates.During the game, Hoyt learned that his friendBabe Ruthhad died. After the game, speaking without notes, Hoyt paid tribute to Ruth on the air for two hours. He was well known as the pre-eminent authority on Ruth; they were teammates from 1921 to 1930, and Ruth long counted Hoyt among his small inner circle of friends.Robert Creamer,author of the definitive Ruth biographyBabe,indicated in that book's introduction that the novella-length memoir written by Hoyt shortly after Ruth's death was "by far the most revealing and rewarding work on Ruth."

Nationally, Hoyt shared radio play-by-play duties for the1953 All-Star Gameon theMutualnetwork and thesecond 1960 All-Star GameonNBC Radio.He also called the1961 World Serieson NBC Radio, in an era when it was common for the principal broadcasters for the participating teams to be utilized in the network broadcasts of the Fall Classic. As it happened, 1961 was the Reds' only World Series appearance during Hoyt's tenure in their booth. In fact, the team only finished in thefirst divisionseven other times during his tenure, leading Hoyt to call himself "a bad news broadcaster."

Hoyt became known for entertaining radio audiences during rain delays, sharing anecdotes and telling vivid stories from his days as a player; a selection of these stories is collected on two record albums:The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain,andWaite Hoyt Talks Babe Ruth.Hoyt was one of the first professional athletes to develop a successful career in broadcasting and his name frequently appears on "all-time best" broadcaster lists.

He retired from full-time broadcasting work in 1965, though he later made appearances on both radio and television, including the color commentary for the Reds telecasts in 1972. On June 10, 2007, the Reds honored Hoyt,Marty Brennaman,andJoe Nuxhallwith replica microphones that are hung below the radio broadcast booth at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

Hall of Fame

Hoyt's plaque at theBaseball Hall of Fame

Hoyt was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fameby its Veterans Committee in 1969.

Personal life

Hoyt married Dorothy Pyle in 1922.The couple was divorced ten years later.He then married Ellen Burbank. She died on November 23, 1982.

He last married Betty Derie on March 5, 1983. Derie, a longtime fan, was an associate ofWarren Giles,first President of the Reds and subsequently of theNational League.Betty lived in Cincinnati until her death on December 25, 2015,and was interviewed extensively in the video biographyWaite's Worldwritten and directed by Donn Burrows. The video bio was released on VHS in 1997 and includes interviews with his son Chris, the late Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, reporter and television personality Nick Clooney, and retired Reds pitcher Jim O'Toole. It is available to view with a simple Google search of "Waite's World Video"

A longtime member ofAlcoholics Anonymous,during the 1978Old-Timers' Daygame, Hoyt said wistfully that he would have won 300 games if he had stoppeddrinkingduring his playing days. After joining AA, he remained sober for more than 40 years.

Hoyt died of heart failure while preparing for what he realized would be his final visit to the Hall of Fame inCooperstown,New York.He is interred inSpring Grove Cemeteryin Cincinnati.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball career wins leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders

External links

• Waite Hoytat theBaseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information fromMLB,orBaseball Reference,orFangraphs,orBaseball Reference (Minors),orRetrosheet
• Interview with Waite Hoyt conducted byEugene Murdockon March 12, 1976, inCincinnati, Ohio:Part 1,Part 2
• Waite HoytatFind a Grave