- Fred Hoey
Fred Hoey (Born 1885 in
Boston, Massachusetts cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Uzh6vqrdzMIC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Fred+Hoey+red+sox&source=web&ots=kEIZEsh_tN&sig=k0CII-SG2mMPFXxRUaHbNu3hqQ0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA100,M1|title=The Golden Voices of Baseball |author= Ted Patterson |publisher=Sports Publishing LLC |accessdate=2008-09-27] , Died November 17, 1949 inWinthrop, Massachusetts ) was a major league baseball broadcaster. Hoey called games for theBoston Braves from 1925-38 andBoston Red Sox from 1927-38.Hoey was born in Boston, but raised in
Saxonville, Massachusetts . In 1897, Hoey saw his first baseball game during the 1897Temple Cup . Hoey would later play semipro baseball and work as an usher at theHuntington Avenue Grounds . cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fZCJUI0UMDUC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=Fred+Hoey+CBS&source=web&ots=-bzGOlOVOL&sig=OyVUTDZEgRckhAFOqfdPq_icne0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA24,M1|title=Voices of Summer |author= Curt Smith |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |accessdate=2008-09-27]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
Boston Bruins . Hoey began broadcasting Braves games in 1925 and Red Sox games in 1927, becoming the first full-time announcer for both teams.In 1933, Hoey was hired by
CBS Radio to call Games 1 and 5 of theWorld Series after commissionerKenesaw Mountain Landis declared thatTed Husing andGraham McNamee could not call World Series games because they did not call any regular season games. b] Hoey was removed from the CBS broadcasting booth during the fourth inning of game one after his voice went out. Although reported as a cold, Hoey's garbled and incoherent words led many to think that Hoey was drunk. b] c] After this incident, Hoey never went to the broadcast booth without a tin ofthroat lozenge s. d] His only other national assignment was calling the1936 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, includingFranklin 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 managerFrankie Frisch . After leaving the booth, Hoey covered the Red Sox and Braves in Boston newspapers until 1946. c]Hoey died on November 17, 1949 of accidental gas asphyxiation. d]
References
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