Peter Hoy Anniversary
Text content
PETER HOY ANNIVERSARY
By RON SMITH
Time seems to be flying by. It’s been 30 years since Peter Hoy was in the major leagues.
On April 4, 1992, the 25-year-old rookie relief pitcher appeared in the opening game of the season for the Boston Red Sox in Cleveland against the Indians in front of more than 65,000 fans. The sinkerball pitcher gave up a couple of hits and got himself out of trouble with a double play in his inning of work in what ended up being an 18-inning marathon game.
“It’s hard to believe it was such a long time ago,” said Hoy, who will turn 56 in a few weeks. “No one was even paying attention to me that day.”
It was a good start to what marked a too-short time in the big leagues. In a rainy, soggy spring, with not many opportunities for the rookie to show what he could do, Hoy made five appearances in the first month of the season.
“It was a dream come true,” said Hoy of his time in Boston. “It doesn’t happen to too many players but I wish I would have stayed up a little bit longer. I enjoyed the experience and it’s something you will remember for the rest of your life.”
Hoy was the first area player to reach the major leagues. He was followed in 1997 by catcher Andy Stewart who had a five-game stint with the Kansas City Royals.
The fact that he even made it to the big leagues at all was a longshot.
The six-foot, seven-inch, 220-pound Hoy was a standout at South Grenville High School in Prescott in football and basketball while also starring as a starting pitcher for the Brockville Bunnies.
“Growing up, you’re thinking about playing in the pros,” said Hoy. “I’d watch the (Montreal) Expos play and I was certainly hopeful. I thought I had three or four different options.”
Hoy made his way to LeMoyne College in Syracuse where he amassed a won-loss record of 19 wins and five losses and a 2.30 earned-run average over three seasons, prompting legend Dick Rockwell to call him the best pitcher he had ever coached.
In 1988, Hoy was drafted in the 33rd round of the major league draft by the Red Sox but postponed his professional career to pitch for Canada in the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea.
In 1989, he started on his journey in the Red Sox minor league farm system, posting decent numbers in his first two years.
A pitching coach tweaked his delivery a bit, making his sinkerball do a bit more dipping and diving. In 1981, in time between AA and AAA, he pitched in 62 games with a record of five wins and six losses with 20 saves and a 1.69 ERA.
That earned him an invitation to spring training in Florida.
Hoy still remembers when he found out he had made the big-league team.
“It was near the end of spring training and things were going pretty well. I was working in the outfield and manager Butch Hobson came up to me and asked if I thought I could do the same thing in the regular season,” recalled Hoy, who had a humble but emphatic answer for him. “That was it.”
“It was just something you dream about in your whole life to have that happen,” he continued.
Rain put the damper on his career. In May, after a one-two-three inning against the Minnesota Twins, Hoy was returned to Pawtucket and was never called back to Boston.
Hoy spent two more years in the Red Sox system and then two more years pitching in Independent Leagues before he retired. He ended up with a minor league record of 28 wins and 35 losses with a 3.11 ERA in 286 games from A to AAA.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after that but became the pitching coach at LeMoyne College from 1997 to 2009 where his pitching staff led the league in earned-run average on five occasions. He became the head coach at St. Lawrence University in Canton in 2010 … earning coach of the year honours in the Liberty League in 2012… before he was forced to retire due to health reasons in 2020.
After losing his wife Lisa to cancer in 2013, Hoy watches his two talented daughters play high school sports in Canton, NY. Madison is in Grade 12, preparing to play basketball at a prep school this fall. Ava is in Grade 10 and has attracted university attention in basketball and as a fastball pitcher.
Hoy was inducted into the LeMoyne Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
