Fred Hoey
Fred Hoey | |
---|---|
Play-by-play | |
Sport | Major League Baseball |
Employer | CBS Radio, Mutual |
Fred James Hoey (May 12, 1884 – November 17, 1949) was an American radio
Biography
Hoey was born in Boston and raised in Saxonville, Massachusetts. At the age of 12, Hoey saw his first baseball game during the 1897 Temple Cup. Hoey would later play semi-professional baseball and work as an usher at the Huntington Avenue Grounds.[2]
In 1903, Hoey was hired as a sportswriter, writing about high school sports, baseball, and hockey. In 1924, he became the first publicity director of the
In 1933, Hoey was hired by CBS Radio to call Games 1 and 5 of the World Series after commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis declared that Ted Husing and Graham McNamee could not call World Series games because they did not call any regular season games.[3] Hoey was removed from the CBS broadcasting booth during the fourth inning of Game 1 after his voice went out. Although reported as a cold, Hoey's garbled and incoherent words led many to think that Hoey was drunk.[3][2] After this incident, Hoey never went to the broadcast booth without a tin of throat lozenges.[3] His only other national assignment was calling the 1936 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, played in Boston, for Mutual.
After the 1936 season, Hoey was fired by the head of the Yankee Network, John Shepard III. Baseball fans, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, rallied to his defense. After the 1938 season, Hoey demanded a raise, but the sponsors, despite public pressure, replaced Hoey with former player and manager Frankie Frisch. After leaving the booth, Hoey covered the Red Sox and Braves in Boston newspapers until 1946.[2]
Hoey died in his home in
References
- ^ "Draft Registration Card". Selective Service System. September 12, 1918. Retrieved September 20, 2020 – via fold3.com.
- ^ ISBN 9780786714469. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ ISBN 9781582614984. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ "Ex-Sportscaster Fred Hoey Dead". The Boston Globe. November 18, 1949. p. 26. Retrieved September 20, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
Further reading
- LeMoine, Bob. "Fred Hoey". SABR. Retrieved September 20, 2020.