LaMarr Hoyt Sentenced to One Year in Federal Prison

Former Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt was ordered Friday to serve one year in a federal prison for violating probation in a drug case by testing positive for cocaine use.

U.S. Magistrate Roger McKee ordered Hoyt to begin serving his sentence Feb. 22 at a prison facility in Montgomery, Pa. Hoyt tested positive for cocaine three times last October.

Hoyt, whose career ended last year with the discovery of a severely injured pitching shoulder, received the 1983 Cy Young Award as the American League’s best pitcher while with the Chicago White Sox. In seven major league seasons, Hoyt compiled a 98-68 record and a 3.99 ERA.

Hoyt, 33, spent 45 days in prison after pleading guilty in December 1986 to trying to smuggle prescription drugs Valium and Darvon into the country from Mexico two months earlier.

It was Hoyt’s third brush with the law that year. In February, he was caught trying to smuggle similar pills and a small amount of marijuana across the border, but the case was resolved when he paid an administrative fine.

Later that month, he was cited during a traffic stop by San Diego police for possessing a small quantity of marijuana and a switch-blade knife.

Hoyt, who pitched for the San Diego Padres in 1985 and 1986 after being acquired in a trade with the White Sox, declined to say anything about the probation violations Friday when asked by the judge.

He still faces cocaine and marijuana charges in his hometown of Columbia, S.C., stemming from his December 1986 arrest after authorities allegedly found about one ounce of each drug in his apartment.