Valuable Player Award. For the season, he went 16–8 with a 3.47 ERA. Baseball writer Bill James said Hoyt had the best control of any National League pitcher at this time. Following the 1985 season, he was arrested twice within a month (between January and February 1986) on drug-possession charges, checking into a rehabilitation program nine days after the second arrest. This prevented him from playing most of spring training. He pitched through an injury to his rotator cuff rather than risk a surgery that could end his career, and he logged an 8–11 won-loss record with a 5.15 ERA. Barely a month after the season ended, Hoyt was arrested again for drug possession when he tried to bring 500 pills through the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the U.S.–Mexico border. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail on December 16, 1986, and suspended by then-Commissioner Peter Ueberroth on February 25, 1987. An arbitrator reduced his suspension to sixty days in mid-June and ordered the Padres to reinstate him. Though the Padres still owed Hoyt $3 million under the terms of his contract, the team gave him his unconditional release the following day. Later career The White Sox gave him a second chance, signing him after his San Diego release and giving him time to get back into shape. A fourth arrest on drug charges in December 1987 ended his return. He was sentenced to one year in federal prison in January 1988. He began to serve his sentence at Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood, and was transferred in July to a halfway house in Columbia, South Carolina. Career stats A poor hitter, even by pitchers' standards, Hoyt had just ten hits in 110 career at-bats. The only extra-base hit of his career was an RBI double on July 13, 1986, against Tim Conroy of the St. Louis Cardinals. Personal life Hoyt's parents divorced when he was six months old, and he was raised by an aunt. Hoyt and his wife, Sylvia, married in 1980. They divorced after the 1985 season. Hoyt and his second wife, Leslie, had two sons and a daughter. Hoyt died of cancer on November 29, 2021, at the age of 66. See also References External links Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League) 1955 births 2021 deaths American League wins champions American people convicted of drug offenses American sportspeople convicted of crimes Appleton Foxes players Baseball