Former AL Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt passed away last Monday at age 66. According to a statement released by the White Sox, Mathew Hoyt (LaMarr’s oldest son) said his father was suffering from cancer.
Hoyt appeared in parts of eight MLB seasons from 1979-1986, with the first six of those years with the White Sox and the last two with the Padres. A fifth-round pick for the Yankees in the 1973 draft, Hoyt was dealt along with Oscar Gamble, minor league righty Bob Polinsky, and $200K to the White Sox in April 1977 in what turned out to be a very notable trade for both teams, as New York picked up Bucky Dent in exchange.
It didn’t take long for Hoyt to win over Tony La Russa, whose debut season as a big league manager with the White Sox coincided with Hoyt’s first taste of The Show.
“My first impression of LaMarr was, ’Here is a pitcher.’ He had average stuff but amazing command and tremendous confidence, and he never showed fear,” La Russa said in the White Sox media release. “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.”
Hoyt didn’t become a full-fledged member of Chicago’s rotation until 1982, and he immediately made his mark by leading the American League with 19 wins and posting a 3.53 ERA. This set the stage for Hoyt’s signature 1983 year, which put him alongside Early Wynn and Jack McDowell as the only White Sox pitchers to ever capture a Cy Young Award.
During that dream season, Hoyt led the majors in wins (24) and walk rate (a tiny 3.0%) over 260 2/3 innings while posting a 3.66 ERA and leading the Sox to an AL West title. Hoyt also threw a complete game to secure Chicago’s lone victory over the Orioles in that year’s ALCS, as Hoyt held the eventual World Series champion O’s to just five hits in a 2-1 White Sox triumph.
After struggling in 1984, Hoyt was dealt that offseason to San Diego as part of a seven-player trade — it was another noteworthy move in White Sox history, as longtime Chicago player and future Series-winning manager Ozzie Guillen joined the Sox in that swap. Hoyt pitched well in 1985 and earned a spot on the NL All-Star team, but his performance declined in 1986 and he never pitched again in the majors. The end of Hoyt’s career was hastened by injuries, as well as a struggle with substance abuse and legal problems that resulted in a year-long suspension from Major League Baseball.
Hoyt posted a 3.99 ERA over 1311 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Padres, relying on his excellent control. Hoyt’s 5.1% walk rate is the seventh-lowest of any qualified pitcher from the 1979-1986 period, and of the six pitchers ahead of Hoyt on the list, only Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley pitched more innings.
We at MLB Trade Rumors apologize for the late date of this post, and we send our condolences to Hoyt’s family and friends.
Almost a hundred wins, dang
RIP. I remember Hoyt and Eckersley battling for the “fewest walks title”. In today’s world, he’d be in command as a free agent starter.
Thoughts and prayers.
I posted Hoyt’s passing here one week ago… it was no secret.
Why so late with this rumor?
they apologized for being late, no biggie
Maybe no biggie for you…
If he spent majority of his career with the NYY or Boston or LAD… it would have been front page news here.
Exactly. They apologized elegantly and nothing more need be said.
I really don’t think the bias is as prevalent as you’re making it out to be. Yes, that bias exists in national news outlets, but that is probably why this slipped through the cracks here for a while, not because they didn’t think it was worth talking about. The people here aren’t robots after all.
Some people just like playing the victim I guess.
Maybe so. But if he had played for any other team but your ChiSox would you be caring on like this? Just sayin.
This is the first I’ve heard of the passing so it was news to me. No I’m glad it was posted at all. Prayers to the Hoyt family
Yes, if you don’t like, go to hosted stats mlb. They even post the waiver wire, not too much commenting though, but it’s there.
@ChiSox_Fan: I told you before…nobody reads your posts, and also you can see how “strong” the White Sox fanbase is…
Or the antagonist.
@chisox fan
I believe they were scouring the comments for potential articles and found people’s comments about Hoyt, including yours, and decided to do a writeup on him. Although their acknowledgement of his passing was embarrassingly late, they made note of it in the piece.
Ahh, I see. A man has died and we have @ChiSox_Fan troll here to make this about himself.
Grow up.
GET. A. LIFE.
ChiSox: Probably has to do with the abundance of news surrounding the lockout that hasn’t occurred in MLB in ages, along with the news of billions of dollars in moves within the week preceding the lockout. I don’t believe there was any I’ll-intentions. To your point about the Yankees though, he was drafted by the Yankees.
And traded away by the NYY! Ha!
Oversight because of the huge Leury signing I’m sure. Understandable.
Nobody cares or reads what you post
I apologize for burying this news in the Leury Garcia signing rumor on Nov 30.
RIP!
i do believe there was also a question at first of the sourcing. took a day before major sources were reporting on it.
He died on Nov 29.
A day later is Nov 30.
Bob Dole died today. Wow, 98 years old! RIP!
Sorry for your loss
Sometimes they want to verify the source.
Get over it ChiSoix fan. Nothing was done maliciously.
Just a meaningless observation. During his three year peak, had a very high percentage of his starts go for decisions. In 1983, 36 starts and 34 decisions for a 24-10 record. Pitchers went deeper into games back then, but that still seems like a decision rate.
*High* decision rate.
Eckersley mentioned along with LaRussa. Eck and Hoyt both were substance abusers. LaRussa probably saved Eckersleys career and helped make
him into a first ballot hall of fame member.
Did he make it first ballot? That’s odd
Eck was 1st ballot, on 83% of ballots in ’04 I believe.
Too busy posting meaningless crap about the Mets to post this article on time?
Nice job
Generally, I don’t depend on a trade rumors site to inform me about the death of players decades past. If they want to include some, so be it. If they don’t want to include some, fine too.
Agreed, RobM. They’ve missed others in the past, but they have a finite number of writers writing and an invariable number of topics, then triaging which topics are most relevant.
Additionally, they apologized in the article itself, as was pointed out in comments above, which I think is a respectable thing to do.
The sad part, as I referenced above, is a troll has caused a mess, making this about himself instead of a remembrance for Hoyt.
They don’t even need to cover this kind of stuff. They’re MLBTradeRumors, not MLBDeathRumors.
The man died. That’s sad news guys. Please let’s grow up about it, all right?
Hoyt had a great year in 1983. White Sox were good that year, lost to Baltimore in the ALCS.
Yes, but Hoyt won the game he started!
2-1 complete game!
Remember seeing him pitch as a youngster, brings back fond memories. RIP and thank you Lamar.
I really don’t believe anyone has shown bias from MLBTR as long as I’ve been following them. Let alone in matters of death. They legitimately post miniscule details that my only local Cleveland media fail to do so and we are certainly not a major market juggernaut. Let’s take a breath, accept the apology, and pay our respects to a great ballplayer.
It will soon be time for the 2021 RIP team.
Wow, what a bad rap he got over some weed, a little coke and some pain pills. The old man who ran the Padres really had it in his head about drugs, such an ignorant hardline approach. Glad to see the arbitrator got it right and they paid him the 3 million they were trying to screw him out of. It is absurd police would arrest people over marijuana, and they forced him into 30 days rehab over two nonsense weed arrests. The old generations got everything so wrong. RIP
Might be true, but this was in the wake of Alan Wiggins and what was believed to have cost them a title in 84. San Diego could be kind of wild. A little like Montreal. Players would go lost.
Wiggins cost them a title?
Coolest thing about this dude is he’s a white guy named LaMarr … well, was.
Man right when he gets elected to the HOF!!! Crazy timing
I remember him being a huge deal to Southsiders back when I first got into the Cubs. Who would’ve thought his manager would still be managing them in 2021? RIP LaMarr. That ’83 team was legendary.
Winning Ugly in 83, baby!!!