Hoyt Gets Out of Prison Today, One Week Early

Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt will be released from federal prison today--one week ahead of schedule--but Peter Ueberroth, the commissioner of baseball, still has not ruled whether Hoyt can play this season.

Hoyt, a free agent after being waived by the Padres last month, was supposed to serve 45 days on drug possession charges. But he is being released after 38 days because he already served two days in prison just after his October arrest and anyone serving time at a minimum-security facility is given three days “extra good time” per month.

Hoyt served his time at Eglin (Fla.) Air Force Base--a minimum-security camp--and has earned five “extra good days,” according to Michael Cooksey, the superintendent of Eglin’s federal prison.

Ueberroth will decide on Hoyt’s playing status in a week or so, according to Rich Levin of the commissioner’s office. In 1984, Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals served a similar off-season jail sentence on drug charges and was suspended until mid-May by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Hoyt has declined all interview requests, but his attorney, Howard Frank, said Tuesday that Hoyt is eager to continue playing.

“I got a letter from him the other day,” Frank said, “and it was a very positive letter, just in terms of his attitude and frame of mind.”

A few times last season, Hoyt, 32, said he was thinking about retiring. He said he was sick of baseball and all the related pressures.

But Frank warned not to take that talk seriously.

“I think the guy was a lot sicker than people realized last year,” Frank said. “And that’s no one’s fault. It would have taken a trained professional to have understood what the guy’s problems were . . . I tell you, he’s going to be a steal for some team, in my opinion.”

Padre Notes

Pitcher Andy Hawkins, who won his arbitration case Sunday, invited the Padre front office out for lunch Monday afternoon, including secretaries. All the women came back wearing corsages. . . . Tom Reich, agent for free-agent outfielder Tim Raines, says he doesn’t think owners will get serious about signing Raines until after March 1. But he says Raines has no plans to sit out the season and will under no circumstances return to his former team, the Montreal Expos.