Waite Hoyt

Waite Charles Hoyt
(Schoolboy, The Merry Mortician)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• High School Erasmus Hall High School
• Debut July 24, 1918
• Final Game May 15, 1938
• Born September 9, 1899 in Brooklyn, NY USA
• Died August 25, 1984 in Cincinnati, OH USA

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1969

BR page

Biographical Information

Waite Hoyt described himself as a "fastball pitcher". He made his major league debut with the New York Giants at the age of 18 - pitching one inning in relief, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. In the 1921 World Series against the New York Giants, Hoyt pitched 3 complete games in 7 days, winning 2 and losing 1 with a 3-game ERA of 0.00. Hoyt was the losing pitcher in the famous 1926 World Series "Grover Cleveland Alexander" game. Waite Hoyt was the ace of the 1927 Yankees staff - perhaps the greatest baseball team of all time - winning a league-leading 22 games.

In 1922 Hoyt was part of an American team that played in Japan. That winter he became the first professional American baseball pitcher to lose a game to a Japanese squad, when he suffered a 9-3 defeat to the Mainichi industrial league team.

After his playing days were over, he turned to broadcasting and was the first star to be thrusted in the "booth". Hoyt broadcast Cincinnati Redlegs games on the radio from 1942 to 1965. His "rain delay" stories are legendary in Cincinnati. He recorded two albums ("Waite Hoyt In The Rain" and "Waite Hoyt and Babe Ruth"). He would talk all things baseball, but especially interesting were his stories about the Red Sox and the 1920s New York Yankees where he played with Babe Ruth - and later played against him. Hoyt was denied his first 20-win season after taking the mound with 19 wins under his belt and having The Babe come in to pitch as a stunt with the Yankees ahead 7 to 0. Although he went on to win the game (as, remarkably, he always did coming in like this) by hitting a home run, Ruth first gave up 7 runs and Hoyt was no longer the pitcher of record. Hoyt also wrote a long pamphlet about Babe Ruth that Robert Creamer deemed the best thing about Ruth he'd ever read.

Quote: "It's great to be young and a Yankee!" Waite Hoyt. (Larry Doyle had said "It's great to be young and a Giant!")

Notable Achievements

• AL Wins Leader (1927)
• AL Saves Leader (1928)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 8 (1921-1924, 1926-1928 & 1934)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 2 (1927 & 1928)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 10 (1921-1929 & 1931)
• Won three World Series with the New York Yankees (1923, 1927 & 1928)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1969

Further Reading

• Wiliam A. Cook: Waite Hoyt: A Biography of the Yankees' Schoolboy Wonder, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2004. ISBN 978-0-7864-1960-9
• Waite Hoyt and Tim Manners: Schoolboy: The Untold Journey of a Yankees Hero, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2024. ISBN 978-1-4962-3679-1
• Rob Langenderfer: "Waite Hoyt, Conveyor of Baseball Memories", in The National Pastime, SABR, Number 20 (2000), pp. 109-111.

Related Sites

• Waite Hoyt at the SABR Bio Project
• Baseball Almanac On Baseball HOFers who Served in the U.S. Armed Forces