One of the first things Donn Burrows did when he arrived in Cincinnati in 1980 was look up broadcasting legend Waite Hoyt. And it wasn't because Burrows worked for Channel 12 sports.
"When I was a kid, all I read was baseball books," Burrows said. "For some reason, I was really interested in turn-of-the-century baseball. I had always read about Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.
"When I got to Cincinnati, I knew Waite Hoyt as Babe Ruth's teammate, a Hall of Fame pitcher."
So Burrows invited Hoyt to lunch.
"We used to go to Mount Adams," Burrows said. "He lived in the Celestial in those days. People would constantly come up to him and tell him they loved him as a broadcaster. I don't think most of them even knew he played baseball."
That's how well-known Hoyt was as radio voice of the Reds: He effectively overshadowed his baseball career. That's saying something, because Hoyt's baseball career was a big thing to overshadow.
Hoyt, a right-handed pitcher, won 231 games. He pitched in 10 World Series games with the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics. He was the ace of the 1927 Yankees with a 22-7 record. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.
But in Cincinnati, Hoyt was a broadcaster first. His reign on the airwaves lasted from 1942-65, so any discussion of the famous 1956 team has to include Hoyt. He, as play-by-play man, was the fans' link to the Reds.
Hoyt was best known as a spinner of stories. Longtime Reds fans will tell you the rain delays were as enjoyable as the games. But Hoyt was an equally talented play-by-play man. Burrows never heard Hoyt do a game live, but he studied tapes of him while putting together a video history of Hoyt.
While Hoyt could spin yarns during delays, he didn't deviate from play-by-play when the game was being played.
Waite Hoyt played for the Yankees from 1921 to 1930.
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"He was fanatical about putting the game first," Burrows said. "I think that came from being a player. There was very little talk about anything else, nothing extraneous. He stressed fundamentals and the game."
Longtime Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, a Cincinnati pitcher during Hoyt's broadcast tenure, said Hoyt was well-respected in the clubhouse.
"He was very fair," Nuxhall said. "He wasn't one to jump on a player. He knew the game, and players respected that."
Hoyt was unique in the way he called a game. Unlike virtually every modern-day broadcaster, Hoyt used past tense.
"He'd say, 'A grounder. Fielded by the third baseman. He threw to first and retired the runner.' Now everyone tries to be ahead of the action," Burrows said. "Waite, being a player, knew that nothing was certain. That the throw could get away. Past tense was natural for him."
1969 Hall of Fame.
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Hoyt the raconteur didn't emerge until he was fairly advanced in his career, but the background was there. His parents were in vaudeville. His first radio job in New York was a variety show. But he was pretty much like any other radio announcer from 1942 until 1948. Then his good friend Babe Ruth died, and Hoyt's career took a new turn.
"The night Babe Ruth died, he ad-libbed two hours after the game," Burrows said. "After that, I think people realized what a great storyteller he was."
From then until his career ended in 1965, whenever it would rain, people would tune in and listen to stories he would tell. Ruth, one of Hoyt's running buddies from his wild days of the 1920s, was often the main character in the tales.
"He could tell baseball stories better than anyone who ever lived," Hall of Fame broadcaster Red Barber once said.
Editor's note: Donn Burrows' videobiography of Hoyt is available by calling 513-763-8280. The cost is $19.95, plus $3.95 shipping and handling.
