Hoy boy, Eastern Ontario's first big leaguer, from Fulford Field to Fenway

October 16, 2021

Peter Hoy of Cardinal saw action in five games with the 1992 Boston Red Sox.

Hoy’s stint in big leagues ‘a dream come true

By Patrick Kennedy

There is speculation, not to mention high hopes, that Kingston native Matt Brash will one day — perhaps as early as next season — pitch in the majors and become Kingston’s first home-bred big-leaguer.

In a sense, Brash has already been there. He was a late-season call-up by the Seattle Mariners for that team’s final and ultimately unsuccessful push for a playoff spot. Although the double-A Arkansas Travelers’ right-hander never saw mound duty in Seattle’s stretch drive, experts (and clearly the Mariners) believe his debut is coming soon.

If — and it says here when — that occurs, Brash would be hailed as the first major-league player in this city’s long and storied history in the grand old game.

However, the Kingston Thunder product would not be the first from eastern Ontario to turn that trick. No sir. That trail was blazed nearly 30 years ago by an unassuming, angular lad from a tiny town east of Brockville. In fact, next April 4 marks the three-decade anniversary of the day Cardinal native and Boston Red Sox reliever Peter Hoy took the mound before an opening-day throng of 65,813 at Cleveland’s cavernous Municipal Stadium.

The gifted multi-sport athlete — Hoy was all-everything at South Grenville District High School in Prescott — had, against extraordinarily long odds, achieved a lifelong goal.

On the phone from his home in Upstate New York, Hoy recalled the moment he was being called up to what minor-leaguers still refer to as “the show.” During Boston’s 1992 spring training camp, invitee Hoy was shagging balls in the outfield when Red Sox manager Butch Hobson sidled alongside.

“Butch said, ‘Do you want to pitch in the big leagues?’ I think I said, ‘Sure.’”

Hoy, the erstwhile Brockville Bunnies linchpin, was drafted in 1988 by Boston in the 33rd round out from the Division 1 Le Moyne College Dolphins in Syracuse N.Y., where he also made the varsity basketball team before settling on baseball and books. With the Bunnies, he was Mr. Reliable for coaches Jack Giffin and Brian McRobie. He would postpone the start of a pro career to maintain his amateur status and represent Canada at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea. At Le Moyne, he posted a career 19-5 won-loss mark and a 2.30 ERA. Longtime Le Moyne coach Dick Rockwell once said, “If I had to win one game, Hoy’s my starter. He’s the best pitcher I ever coached.”

As a pro, Hoy rode a dipping, diving forkball all the way to Fenway Park, albeit for the proverbial cup of coffee. Back then, the pitch was called a split-fingered fastball. The directions were simple: Stuff a baseball into the cleft between the fore and middle fingers and let it fly. Today it’s known as a sinker or a splitter, although not as deep inside the fingers. Call it what you wish, it’s basically the same bedevilling forkball masterfully employed by Pittsburgh’s diminutive (5-foot-8) relief ace Elroy Face in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Hoy compiled a career minor-league 28-35 record and a respectable 3.14 ERA. Still, after a 2-10 sophomore season at class-A in Winter Haven, Fla., he seemed at best a long shot to reach baseball’s pinnacle. That was until a bullpen coach suggested the lanky right-hander drop his arm down a bit on his delivery to gain more ball movement.

Two stellar seasons followed as Hoy hopped back and forth between double-A New Britain and triple-A Pawtucket before joining the Red Sox. He appeared in only five games with Boston. He pitched 3 2/3 innings and fanned two hitters, including a future Hall of Famer.

“Easter weekend at Fenway against the Blue Jays,” Pete’s elder brother, Mike, said, recalling the latter occasion. “The whole family was there: Mom and Dad, our sister, Janet. Joe Carter blooped a single, then Peter struck out Dave Winfield, completely fooled him with a curve ball. Winfield lunged and ended up losing his bat.”

Carter’s hit gave the Jays a 6-4 win in 13 innings before 34,709 fans. Hoy’s predecessor was charged with the loss.

Hoy’s stay with the parent club was brief. He was sent down, recalled shortly thereafter, then demoted again the day after recording a 1-2-3 inning against the Minnesota Twins. Hoy would never return.

“I didn’t really get a chance to pitch all that much with Boston,” he reflected, “and when I did, I didn’t pitch well.”

(Two years later, I was working the plate at a Kingston Ponies game at historic Megaffin Stadium. On the hill for the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians stood the towering figure of Peter Alexander Hoy, all 6-foot-7 of him.)

Peter came by his talent honestly. His late father, Jack, pitched in the New York Yankees organization for three years and later starred in Ontario’s Intercounty Baseball League (with the Galt Merchants from 1958 to 1961, managing the team in 1960).

Jack Hoy and a friend formed a four-team loop in the Cardinal area and Jack coached his two teenage sons on the Athletics.

Peter Hoy was inducted into the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians Hall of Fame at their 50th anniversary celebrations in 2019, along with Don Campbell, longest serving manager, Pittsburgh Pirate OF Doug Frobel, LHP Mike Kusiewicz, Colorado Rockies farmhand, RHP Dave MacQuarrie, former Montreal Expos farmhand, founder, manager and coach Art Nielsen, C Cam Pelton, who spent four years with the LeMoyne Dolphins.

Following his playing career, Peter joined the coaching staff at Le Moyne (1997 to 2009) and helped the Green and Gold to a 361-221 record. In 2010, he was named head coach of the St. Lawrence University Saints in Canton, N.Y. It was a position he held until stepping down for health reasons last year.

Here’s a snippet of his Hall of Fame bio at Le Moyne. “He was big, almost awkward looking on the mound. Yet he was called “the Cat” for his ability to field his position. He did not have a loose arm. From the batter’s box, body parts seemed to be flying at you as he wound up and delivered the ball.”

The bio also noted that Hoy “… had a knack of knowing what had to be done and he would find a way to do it.” That unerring approach has guided him outside of baseball as well. Hoy’s personal life has been buckled by a couple of life’s curve balls.

Peter Hoy with his daughters, Madison, left, and Ava, in 2020. Brother Mike took Madison and Ava to a recent Buffalo Bills game as former Ottawa Rough Riders’ GM Jo-Ann Polak provided the tickets.

In 2013, cancer claimed the life of his Prescott-born wife, Lisa, mother of the couple’s two young daughters. “I had to push on, had to think of the girls,” he said on the phone, referring to daughters Madison and Ava, now 17 and 15, respectively. A diagnosis of Parkinson’s followed. Hoy continues to battle the disease with the same drive and determination he used in fanning big Winfield so many years ago at Fenway.

“Life’s been great,” he said, dismissing his health concerns. “I was fortunate to have played a lot of sports, but baseball was always my favourite. Playing major league baseball was a dream come true.”

Patrick Kennedy (pjckennedy35@gmail.com) is a retired Kingston Whig-Standard columnist and is respected as the best ever sports scribe -- along with Paul Rimstead -- to work at Canada’s oldest newspaper.