LaMarr Hoyt, 1955 - 2021

LaMarr Hoyt, who passed away this week, joined Richard Dotson, Floyd Bannister, and Britt Burns in the quartet of young starting pitchers that carried the 1983 White Sox to the franchise's first postseason appearance since 1959. 

     

LaMARR HOYT

The burly, bearded righthander was listed at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds--but he admitted to weighing "a ways above" 240. After leading the American League with 19 victories in 1982, Hoyt lost six of his first eight decisions as the Sox struggled through the early going in 1983. He then went 22-4 for the rest of the season, and the South Siders romped to the division title by 19 games.

     Hoyt ended up 24-10 for the year, with a 3.66 earned run average, 11 complete games, and only 31 walks in 260 innings. He received the Cy Young Award after the season.

     In what turned out to be the only postseason game of his career, Hoyt scattered five hits, walked none, and went the distance as the Sox beat Baltimore 2-1 in the opener of the 1983 American League Championship Series. Alas, the Orioles captured the next three games to clinch the series. Hoyt would have been on the mound for a decisive Game 5 that never took place. "No way did I want to see Hoyt tomorrow," said Orioles outfielder Ken Singleton after Game 4.

     Hoyt was involved in two trades for noteworthy White Sox shortstops. As a minor leaguer in April 1977, he was traded by the New York Yankees to the Sox with outfielder Oscar Gamble for Bucky Dent. In December 1984, he was dealt to the San Diego Padres for four players, including Ozzie Guillen.

     Despite his prodigious size, Hoyt could barely throw hard enough to break a pane of glass. Therefore, he needed to get by on guts and guile--both of which he had in abundance. "What I learned to do," he said, "was to make the absolute most of the limited talent I had. I couldn't ever blow hitters away, but I could put a ball where I wanted, and I could make the ball move. I knew how to attack the corners of the plate."

     Injuries and personal issues derailed his career soon after the glory year of 1983, but Hoyt is still remembered fondly by fans and teammates. "He had average stuff," White Sox manager Tony LaRussa said, "but amazing command and tremendous confidence. He never showed fear. What a great competitor."

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Mr. Mack and Mr. LaRussa

To this point in time, Connie Mack is the only person to manage in the major leagues after having been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager. (Others have served as managers after being elected to the Hall as players.) 

    

CONNIE MACK

Mack was elected to the Hall in 1937, when he was assumed to be in the home stretch of a career that had already gone on for 40 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1894-1896) and Philadelphia Athletics (since 1901). But Mack was able to manage the A’s for as long as he liked, because he owned the franchise. He continued on for another 13 years without adding to his total of nine American League pennants and five world championships, finally retiring after the 1950 season at the age of 87.

     Tony LaRussa, 76, will become the second member of Mack’s exclusive club when the White Sox play their first game of the 2021 season. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014 when seemingly retired after 33 seasons with the White Sox (1979-1986), Oakland Athletics (1986-1995), and St. Louis Cardinals (1996-2011). 

     LaRussa was fired during the 1986 season by Sox general manager Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who had come from and soon returned to the broadcast booth. “Over the years, every time the subject of the 1986 season surfaced, I have been crucified in Chicago,” Harrelson wrote in his autobiography. “It’s as if I am the guy who traded Babe Ruth or caused the Black Sox scandal or lit the first match to ignite the Chicago Fire of 1871.”  

    

TONY LaRUSSA

LaRussa’s departure was a pill that seemed to grow more bitter for chairman Jerry Reinsdorf with each passing year. And now it has been flushed away. No doubt Reinsdorf is overjoyed (and he is the boss, after all), but many White Sox fans are dismayed, and there is good reason to wonder whether general manager Rick Hahn is on board with the hire and whether he even had anything to do with it. 

     “This is an opportunity for us as an organization,” Hahn said when Rick Renteria was let go less than three weeks ago. “We’ve obviously been somewhat insular in terms of our managerial hirings over the last several years.  This is an opportunity for us to speak to individuals with other organizations that have had success and learn from them and get their sort of outsider objective perspective on our organization.” All that went out the window when it turned out that LaRussa was interested in the job. 

     No one knows yet whether LaRussa’s homecoming on the South Side will produce the ending that Reinsdorf is hoping for--but given the current state of the White Sox’ roster, it seems that LaRussa has at least a fighting chance to add to his current cache of six pennants and three world championships before he hangs it up for keeps. 

 

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White Sox Managers

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn announced today that the club and manager Rick Renteria had "agreed to part ways." Renteria's hiring in 2017 to guide a very young Sox team through its growing pains to eventual contender status was eerily similar to the task assigned to him by the Cubs in 2014. (That project went awry, at least for Renteria, when Joe Maddon unexpectedly became available in 2015.) 

     The White Sox did indeed become contenders in 2020, and it would seem that they are poised for bigger and better things in the next few years. Will the South Siders' next skipper be one of the usual suspects such as A.J. Hinch, Alex Cora, or Sandy Alomar Jr.--or does Hahn have his eye on a dark-horse candidate? To the disappointment of some, Hahn has already indicated that the choice will not be a blast from the past in the form of the one and only Ozzie Guillen.

     Stay tuned.

     

 

JIMMY DYKES

Below is the complete list of White Sox managers over the years.

 

 

Manager Seasons W. L. Pct. Clark Griffith 1901–1902 157 113 .581 Nixey Callahan 1903–1904 83 95 .474 Fielder Jones 1904–1908 426 293 .592 Billy Sullivan 1909 78 74 .513 Hugh Duffy 1910–1911 145 159 .477 Nixey Callahan 1912–1914 226 234 .491 Pants Rowland 1915–1918 339 247 .578 Kid Gleason 1919–1923 392 364 .519 Johnny Evers 1924 51 71 .418 Ed Walsh 1924 1 2 .333 Eddie Collins 1924–1926 174 160 .521 Ray Schalk 1927–1928 102 125 .449 Lena Blackburne 1928–1929 99 133 .427 Donie Bush 1930–1931 118 189 .384 Lew Fonseca 1932–1934 120 196 .380 Jimmy Dykes 1934–1946 899 940 .489 Ted Lyons 1946–1948 185 245 .430 Jack Onslow 1949–1950 71 113 .386 Red Corriden 1950 52 72 .419 Paul Richards 1951–1954 342 265 .563 Marty Marion 1954–1956 179 138 .565 Al Lopez 1957–1965 811 615 .569 Eddie Stanky 1966–1968 206 197 .511 Les Moss 1968 12 24 .333 Al Lopez 1968–1969 29 35 .434 Don Gutteridge 1969–1970 109 172 .388 Bill Adair 1970 4 6 .400 Chuck Tanner 1970–1975 401 414 .492 Paul Richards 1976 64 97 .398 Bob Lemon 1977–1978 124 112 .525 Larry Doby 1978 37 50 .425 Don Kessinger 1979 46 60 .434 Tony La Russa 1979–1986 522 510 .506 Doug Rader 1986 1 1 .500 Jim Fregosi 1986–1988 193 226 .461 Jeff Torborg 1989–1991 250 235 .515 Gene Lamont 1992–1995 258 210 .551 Terry Bevington 1995–1997 222 214 .509 Jerry Manuel 1998–2003 500 471 .515 Ozzie Guillén 2004–2011 678 617 .524 Don Cooper 2011 1 1 .500 Robin Ventura 2012–2016 375 435 .463 Rick Renteria 2017–2020 236 309 .433
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White Sox in the Postseason

No manager ever led a White Sox team into the postseason more than once until Ozzie Guillen did so more than a century into the franchise's history. No manager has ever led the White Sox into the postseason in consecutive years--although Gene Lamont deserves an asterisk for that one. His Sox team won the American League Central in 1993 and was in position to repeat when a labor dispute ended the 1994 season on August 12.

     Interestingly, no White Sox team ever qualified for postseason play without finishing in first place until this year. Wild-card playoff berths have been available since 1995, but this year is the first time the Sox have claimed one.

     Below is the complete list of White Sox teams in the postseason.  

 

OZZIE GUILLEN

1901

W. 83    L. 53    .610     

Manager: Clark Griffith

Best Player: Clark Griffith

Finished first in American League

(No postseason)

 

1906

W. 93    L. 58    .616     

Manager: Fielder Jones 

Best Player: George Davis

Finished first in American League

Defeated Cubs 4 games to 2 in World Series

 

1917

W. 100    L. 54    .649

Manager: Pants Rowland      

Best Player: Eddie Cicotte

Finished first in American League

Defeated New York Giants 4 games to 2 in World Series

1919

W. 88    L. 52    .629     

Manager: Kid Gleason

Best Player: Eddie Cicotte

Finished first in American League

Lost to Cincinnati Reds 5 games to 3 in World Series

1959

W. 94    L. 60    .610     

Manager: Al Lopez

Best Player: Nellie Fox

Finished first in American League

Lost to Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2 in World Series

1983

W. 99    L. 63    .611     

Manager: Tony LaRussa

Best Player: Richard Dotson

Finished first in American League West

Lost to Baltimore Orioles 3 games to 1 in A.L. Championship Series

 

1993

W. 94    L. 68    .580     

Manager: Gene Lamont

Best Player: Frank Thomas

Finished first in American League West

Lost to Toronto Blue Jays 4 games to 2 in A.L. Championship Series

 

1994

W. 67    L. 46    .593 

Manager: Gene Lamont      

Best Player: Frank Thomas

Finished first in American League Central

(No postseason due to dispute between owners and players)

 

2000

W. 95    L. 67    .586 

Manager: Jerry Manuel     

Best Player: Frank Thomas

Finished first in American League Central

Lost to Seattle Mariners 3 games to 0 in A.L. Division Series

 

2005

W. 99    L. 63    .611  

Manager: Ozzie Guillen

Best Player: Mark Buehrle

Finished first in American League Central

Defeated Boston Red Sox 3 games to 0 in A.L. Division Series

Defeated Los Angeles Angels 4 games to 1 in A.L. Championship Series

Defeated Houston Astros 4 games to 0 in World Series

 

2008

W. 89    L. 74    . 546

Manager: Ozzie Guillen

Best Player: John Danks

Finished first in American League Central

Lost to Tampa Bay Rays 3 games to 1 in A.L. Division Series

2020

W. 35    L. 25    .583

Manager: Rick Renteria

Best Player: Jose Abreu

Tied for second in American League Central 

Lost to Oakland Athletics 2 games to 1 in A.L. Wild Card Series

 

("Best Player" based on Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement.)

 

 

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