(670 The Score) Longtime White Sox radio broadcaster Ed Farmer died Wednesday night, the team announced.
Farmer was 70. He passed away in a Los Angeles-area hospital of complications from a previous illness, the White Sox said.
Farmer had worked as a White Sox radio broadcaster for the past 29 years, including handling play-by-play duties for the past 14. Farmer also had an 11-year MLB pitching career, which included a stint with the White Sox from 1979-'81. He was earned his lone All-Star honor with the White Sox in 1980.
"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," White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said 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. 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."
For the last 11 seasons, Farmer's broadcasting partner was color analyst and good friend Darrin Jackson.
"My heart is broken, but my mind is at peace knowing my dear friend is no longer suffering," Jackson said. "Ed was a competitor who also was everyone's best friend. I saw firsthand how hard Ed fought each and every day and season after season to keep himself healthy and prepared to broadcast White Sox baseball. I first got to know Ed during my time in Chicago as a player and am honored to have been his friend and radio partner. My heart goes out to Barbara and Shanda, the only people he loved more than the White Sox and his hometown of Chicago."
Farmer was an Evergreen Park native who graduated from St. Rita High School, where he starred in baseball and basketball. The Indians selected him in the sixth round of the 1967 amateur draft.
He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Chicago Catholic League Hall of Fame in 1999.
Away from the park, Farmer was a strong advocate for organ donation. He had polycystic kidney disease, which forced him to have a kidney transplant in 1991. He served on the board of directors of the Polycystic Kidney Disease Research Foundation.
Farmer is survived by his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Shanda. He also had a lifelong love of animals, Notre Dame and golf.
