“It’s Burger Baseball time! With Waite Hoyt!”
The voice of longtime Reds radio announcer Waite Hoyt returns to the airwaves at 8 p.m. Sunday in a nostaligic one-hour special on WVXU-FM (91.7).
Before Marty and Joe, Hoyt was the summer soundtrack here for 23 years (1942-65). Hoyt, one of the first players to become a play-by-play man, died in 1984 at age 89.
...Hoyt, son of a New York vaudeville entertainer, was a renaissance man. He was a painter, writer, funeral home director and a Hall of Fame pitcher. He won 237 and lost 132 in 21 seasons.
He also was an alcoholic who, ironically, owed his second career to Burger Beer. The brewery stuck with him when he was absent from the airwaves several days in 1945 after a drinking binge.
When the club announced that Hoyt was suffering from a case of amnesia, the Babe sent him a telegram saying: “Read about your case of amnesia. Must be a new brand.”
Hoyt was so loyal to Burger that he retired in 1965, when the brewery lost the radio rights to Wiedemann. Fans missed his player’s perspective so much that in 1967 Wiedemann added recently retired pitcher Joe Nuxhall to the radio booth.
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1. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 30, 2012 at 10:23 AM (#4092837)Also ironic that Bobby Valentine owes his latest managerial job to Chicken and Beer.
All I knew is that he pitched for the 1927 Yankees. If he had been 22, he could be alive at 107.
I think that deal only works for Russian peasants who live on nothing but yogurt.
That was my first thought, too, except I think he was like 30. Egad!
They broadcast Welsh baseball on the radio?
Hoyt Wilhelm of course would be only 89 today. In his prime for a sports announcer.
That's ludicrous.
Waite was LaMarr's grandfather?
It would be more exciting if they had Waite Hoyt doing a little 2-minute segment during each game. I'm sure they could use existing recordings to create a soundboard that would let him give pretty accurate commentary.
Or in tribute to Waite Hoyt, have the real Reds announcers announce the game in the past tense.
She's only about a year younger than babe ruth.
that's the caption - so is Hoyt nailed to the Crosley Field roof or the broadcast booth?
Speaking of which, I got the chance to meet Babe Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, at the NINE conference earlier this month. She's 95, sharp as a finely-honed blade, and a lot of fun to talk to. And every time she would say, "Daddy used to like to do this," or, "Daddy said that," a shiver would go up my spine. It was awesome.
What's a "go player"? Does it have something to do with his name being "Go"?
I was wondering if he had a grandson or something who did play by play.
Anyway, just from the excerpt, he sounds like he was an interesting character; I knew nothing about him other than his pitching for the '27 Yankees.
No, who's on first.
Grr ... what is the name of the pitcher?
No what is the name of the second bsaeman.
OK, the name of the pitcher is ...?
Waite.
(extended pause)
Well are you going to tell me the name of the pitcher?
I told you the name of the pitcher.
When?
Center field.
Also, supposedly at Ruth's funeral, a hot day, Joe Dugan said something to the effect that he'd give a hundred dollars for a beer. "So would the Babe, I bet," Hoyt replied.
I remember it as Jimmie Reese or Mark Koenig, but it was probably said by everybody who was Ruth's teammate. Reese and Koenig just lived longer than most of the others.
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