" In addition to the "Schoolboy" moniker appearing on his Hall of Fame plaque, Hoyt was also kn own as "The Merry Mortician." For when he wasn't playing baseball he spent days working a s a funeral director and nights appearing on vaudeville. As a vaudevillian, he appeared wit h many of the most well-known performers of the day, including Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Geo rge Burns, and others. He kept in good shape during the off-season by playing semi-pro basket ball. He added to his repertoire by becoming an accomplished painter and writer. He was well-know n as the pre-eminent authority on Babe Ruth, who was his teammate for almost 10 years. Rober t Creamer, author of the definitive Ruth biography Babe, indicated in that book's introductio n that the novella-length memoir written by Hoyt shortly after Ruth's death was "by far the m ost revealing and rewarding work on Ruth." A longtime member of Alcoholics Anonymous, during the 1978 Old-Timers' Day, Hoyt said wistful ly that he'd have won 300 games if he had stopped drinking during his playing days. After joi ning A.A., he remained sober for more than 40 years. As a broadcaster After retiring as a player, Hoyt went into broadcasting. During a stint as the host of "Grand stand and Bandstand" on WMCA, he tried to audition for the Yankees, but sponsor Wheaties veto ed him out of hand. The common view at the time was that former players didn't have enough o f a vocabulary to be successful broadcasters. However, Hoyt was well known for telling umpir e George Moriarty that he was "out of his element" and was better suited to being a policema n so he could "insult people with impunity." Dodgers' voice Red Barber, however, thought more of Hoyt's abilities and hired him as color c ommentator and host of the pre- and post-game shows in 1940. After two years, he became the p lay-by-play voice of the Cincinnati Reds, a post he held for 24 years. He became as much a ce lebrity with the Reds as he was while a player. He was well known for calling games exclusive ly in past tense, which was and still is unusual for sportscasting. Where most baseball annou ncers would say, "Here's the pitch

" Hoyt would say, "There was the pitch

" He told author Cu rt Smith that he felt using past tense was more accurate because "as I speak to you, what hap pened a moment ago is gone." He often referred to himself as "a bad-news broadcaster," sinc e the Reds were only a serious contender for the pennant nine times in his tenure. On Augus t 16, 1948, Hoyt paid tribute to Babe Ruth, speaking on the air without notes for two hours u pon learning of his death after a game. He called the 1961 World Series for NBC, during a tim e when it was common for the network to use the home team's primary broadcasters for the Fal l Classic. He retired from full-time broadcasting work in 1965, though he would later make appearances o n both radio and television including doing the color commentary for the Reds telecasts in 19 72. Hoyt was known for entertaining radio audiences with anecdotes during rain delays. A sele ction of these stories is collected on two record albums "The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain " and "The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain, Volume 2." Whether one considers it a blessing o r a curse on the subsequent evolution of sports broadcasting, Hoyt was one of the first profe ssional athletes to develop a successful career in broadcasting and his name frequently appea rs on "all-time best" broadcaster lists. On June 10, 2007, the Cincinnati Reds honored Hoyt, Marty Brennaman, and Joe Nuxhall with rep lica microphones that will hang on the wall near the radio booth. Later life An eternal optimist, Hoyt married his third wife, Betty Dearie in 1982. Dearie, a longtime fa n, was an associate of Warren Giles, first President of the Reds and subsequently of the Nati onal League. Betty still lives in Cincinnati. Betty is interviewed extensively in the video b iography "Waite's World". The bio was released on VHS in 1997 and includes interviews with hi s son Chris, the late hall of fame broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, reporter and television personali ty Nick Clooney, former Red Jim O'Toole and many more. The aging Hoyt died of heart failure while preparing for what he realized would be his fina l visit to the Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, New York.

Dorothy H. 1st m.|1st m.

Notes:

Harry P. Hoyt

Doris A. Hoyt

Ellen Burbank 2nd m.|2nd m.

Notes:

Betty Dearie 3rd m.|3rd m.