Former Chicago White Sox Player and Broadcaster Ed Farmer Dies at 70
Ed Farmer, a longtime Chicago White Sox player and radio broadcaster, died Wednesday, the team confirmed. He was 70.
The baseball icon died in a Los Angeles hospital of complications from a previous illness, the team reported. Farmer’s official cause of death has not been released.
According to NBC Sports, Farmer had a history of kidney disease and received a transplant from his brother in 1990. He missed the latter end of the 2019 baseball season due to his poor health.
The Chicago native pitched in the major leagues for 11 years, three of which he played with the White Sox. He made the All-Star team in 1980 and was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, according to MLB.
We mourn the death of Ed Farmer who passed away Wednesday night.
Farmer worked as a radio broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox for nearly 30 years, played 11 seasons in the major leagues, including three with his hometown White Sox, and was a strong advocate for organ donation. pic.twitter.com/wx7itjfEYk— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 2, 2020
In 1990, Farmer joined the White Sox radio booth, where he became the voice of the team before finishing his final season in 2019.
Farmer and broadcaster John Rooney called play-by-plays together from 1992 to 2005 and were later named the best radio team in the American League by USA Today in 2004, according to NBC Sports.
RELATED: Former Denver Broncos Player Orlando McDaniel Dies from Complications of Coronavirus at 59
“Ed Farmer was the radio voice of the Chicago White Sox for three decades, and he called no-hitters, perfect games and of course, a World Series championship,” said White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf in a statement.
“His experience as a major league All-Star pitcher, his wry sense of clubhouse humor, his love of baseball and his passion for the White Sox combined to make White Sox radio broadcasts the sound of summer for millions of fans.”
He continued, “Ed grew up a Sox fan on the south side of Chicago and his allegiance showed every single night on the radio as he welcomed his ‘friends’ to the broadcast. I am truly devastated by the loss of my friend.”
DAVID BREWSTER/Star Tribune via Getty
Farmer was also a “strong advocate for organ donation,” the team wrote in a tweet.
RELATED: Legendary Harlem Globetrotters Player Fred ‘Curly’ Neal Dies at 77
The former athlete served on the board of the Polycystic Kidney Disease Research Foundation and supported Donate Life Illinois, the state’s organ donor program, MLB reported.
Farmer is survived by his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Shanda.
