Chicago White Sox at the end of the 1978 spring training. At Chicago, he was used exclusively as a middle reliever and setup man for closer Lerrin LaGrow. Willoughby pitched 59 games, going 1-6 with a 3.86 ERA and 13 saves in 93⅓ innings, during what turned out to be his final Major League season. In October 1978, Chicago had sent Willoughby to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for outfielder John Scott. But Willoughby was released during the 1979 spring training, and he decided to sign a Double-A contract to play with the Wichita Aeros in the Chicago Cubs system. His contract allowed him to request his release if he was not called up to Chicago by the trade deadline. Then, when the Cubs declined to promote him, he made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined the Triple–A Portland Beavers. Finally, he was included on the active roster of the eventual World Series champion Pirates as bullpen insurance but never appeared in a game. Nevertheless, he received a $250 World Series share from the 'We Are Family' Bucs that defeated the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Winterball In between, Willoughby played in the winter for the Tigres de Aragua and Tiburones de La Guaira clubs of the Venezuelan League in the 1973-74 and 1979-80 seasons, respectively. In 1979, Willoughby played the entire minor league season with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus type 1, but was unaware of it until he went to Venezuela late in the year and suffered a diabetic coma. It was neither lengthy nor deep, but he was briefly in the hospital. At this point, he decided to retire for good from playing. After baseball Following his playing retirement, Willoughby moved to Massachusetts and briefly hosted a radio talk show in Waltham. He then was named baseball head coach at Suffolk University in December 1980, but resigned four months later after being suspended for a bat-throwing incident during practice. Subsequently, he returned to his native California, where he worked as a construction contractor and developed a career building houses on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Returning to baseball In 1989, Willoughby was working as a carpenter in California and received an invitation to play in the recent founded Senior Professional Baseball Association, where he joined the Winter Haven Super Sox pitching staff. Apparently, the team's owners wanted to put the old Red Sox team