Lamarr Hoyt obit

LaMarr Hoyt, the 1983 AL Cy Young winner for the Chicago White Sox, dies at 66: ‘What a great competitor’

 

He was not on the list.

LaMarr Hoyt, the 1983 American League Cy Young Award for the Chicago White Sox, died Monday in Columbia, S.C., following a lengthy illness, the team confirmed Wednesday.

He was 66.

“My dad passed away from cancer with me by his side early in the morning of the 29th,” Mathew Hoyt, LaMarr’s oldest son, said in a statement. “He genuinely loved being a part of the White Sox organization, and I can say without a doubt those were the best years of his life. All he talked about in his final days was baseball, the White Sox and all of his former teammates.”

Hoyt went 98-68 during eight major-league seasons with the Sox (1979-84) and San Diego Padres (1985-86). He had a 3.99 ERA and 681 strikeouts in 244 career games (172 starts).

The right-hander went 74-49 with a 3.92 ERA, 513 strikeouts and 39 complete games in 178 appearances (116 starts) with the Sox. He went 24-10 with a 3.66 ERA in 1983, helping the “Winning Ugly” Sox to the AL West title. Hoyt became the first Sox to win the Cy Young Award since Early Wynn in 1959.

“My first impression of LaMarr was, ‘Here is a pitcher,’ ” said Tony La Russa, who managed the Sox from 1979-86 and returned to the team in 2021, in a statement. “He had average stuff but amazing command and tremendous confidence, and he never showed fear. We brought him up to the big leagues in 1979 and nothing bothered him. He had this impressive cool where he believed if he made his pitches, he would get hitters out. He faced teams multiple times in a season but could change up his looks and keep them off balance.

“What a great competitor.”

Born Dewey LaMarr Hoyt Jr. on Jan. 1, 1955, in Columbia, the New York Yankees selected Hoyt in the fifth round of the 1973 draft. They dealt him to the Sox on April 5, 1977 with outfielder Oscar Gamble and pitcher Bob Polinsky for shortstop Bucky Dent.

He made his major-league debut on Sept. 14, 1979 against the Oakland A’s and led the AL with 19 victories in 1982 before his Cy Young season the next year.

“It’s better than a dream,” Hoyt said after winning the award, according to an Oct. 26, 1983, Tribune story.

Hoyt began the season with a 2-6 record but went 22-4 the rest of the way on the way to again leading the majors in victories. He had 148 strikeouts, 31 walks and 11 complete games in 36 starts.

Hoyt went 13-18 in 1984, leading the AL in losses. The Sox traded him to the Padres on Dec. 7, 1984, as part of a deal that included Ozzie Guillen in return.

Hoyt started and was the winning pitcher for the National League in the 1985 All-Star Game, earning MVP honors. He finished 16-8 in 1985 and went 8-11 the next season.

He returned to the Sox organization in July 1987 but didn’t pitch at any of the affiliates. Hoyt had three “drug-related incidents” in 1986, and an arrest on drug charges in December 1987 prompted his retirement, according to a Dec. 6, 1987, Tribune story.

“His agent called and informed us that LaMarr had decided not to play baseball,’’ then-Sox GM Larry Himes said in the article.

Teammate Richard Dotson remembered Hoyt as a “great pitcher and a great teammate.”

“We would sit around and talk pitching for hours,” said Dotson, who won 22 games with the Sox in 1983 and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting, in a statement. “He really knew how to pitch. His stuff was never great, but he had a great sinker and exceptional command. LaMarr, Britt Burns, Harold Baines and I all came up to the big leagues around the same time and grew up together, which eventually led to that memorable 1983 season.

“We are all going to miss him.”

After the 1984 season, the San Diego Padres traded Ozzie Guillén, Tim Lollar, Bill Long, and Luis Salazar to the White Sox for Hoyt, Kevin Kristan, and Todd Simmons. He was targeted by Padres general manager Jack McKeon to bolster their starting rotation, which struggled in the 1984 World Series. Hoyt made the National League's All-Star team his first season in the league, and was named the starting pitcher for the game. He gave up one run in three innings of work to earn the win and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award.

Barely a month after the season ended, Hoyt was arrested again for drug possession when he tried to bring 500 pills through the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the U.S.–Mexico border. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail on December 16, 1986, and suspended by then-Commissioner Peter Ueberroth on February 25, 1987. An arbitrator reduced his suspension to sixty days in mid-June and ordered the Padres to reinstate him. Though the Padres still owed Hoyt $3 million under the terms of his contract, the team gave him his unconditional release the following day

Some of his baseball associates included: Thad Bosley, Alan Bannister, Milt May, Lamar Johnson, Chet Lemon, Greg Pryor, Ken Kravec, Steve Trout, Ed Farmer, Harold Baines, Claudell Washington, Minnie Miñoso, Jim Morrison, Britt Burns, Roland Hemmond, Carlton Fisk, Greg Luzinski, Tony Bernazard, Don Drysdale, Ken Hawk Harrelson Early Wynn, Joe McConnell, Steve Kemp, Ron LeFlore, Jerry Koosman, Ron Kittle, Jim Leyland, Tony La Russa, Sparky Lyle, Tom Paciorek, Vance Law, Jerry Reinsdorf, Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Floyd Bannister, Rudy Law, Dennis Lamp, Tom Seaver, Roy Smalley, Jerry Hairston Sr., Jamie Quirk, Joan Croc, Dick Williams, Jack McKeon, Dave Campbell, Jerry Coleman, Bob Chandler, Ted Leitner, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Terry Kennedy, Carmelo Martínez, Kevin McReynolds, Jerry Royster, Eric Show, Garry Templeton, Alan Wiggins, Goose Gossage, Dave Dravecky, Andy Hawkins, Eric Show, Bruce Bochy, Kevin McReynolds, Graig Nettles, Tim Flannery, Steve Boros, Bip Roberts, John Kruk, Benito Santiago, Craig Lefferts, Ed Whitson and Ozzie Virgil.