NEW YORK -- Joe Foy, who played third base for the 1967 American League champion Boston Red Sox, died of a heart attack, club officials announced Thursday. He was 46.
Foy, who suffered from diabetes and heart trouble, died Wednesday night at his home in New York, the team said. Foy was a member of the Red Sox 'Impossible Dream' team that won the pennant in 1967 but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series in seven games.
Foy, who played six seasons in the majors, three of them for Boston, hit .251 in 1967. He collected 49 RBI, hit 16 homers and had 22 doubles that year. Foy played in six of the World Series games and had two hits and one RBI.
Foy is the fourth member of the '67 team to pass away. Catcher Elston Howard, pitcher Don McMahon and second baseman Jerry Adair were the others.
Foy batted .248 lifetime, including stints with the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets and Washington Senators. Foy twice led the AL in double plays for a third baseman. He had 28 as a rookie in 1966, and had 36 in 1968, his final season with Boston. He retired in 1971.
Red Sox General Partner Haywood Sullivan, who was vice president and director of player personnel when Foy played at Boston, praised him as 'an integral part' of the '67 team.
'I remember him as a ... man who played the game hard and had fun while doing it,' Sullivan said.
Former Red Sox first baseman George Scott, another member of the '67 team and one of Foy's closest friends, said he was stunned by his death.
'That's what so frightening. He's only a year older than me. It's such a shock. I'm still in shock really,' Scott told The Boston Herald.
Foy is survived by his wife, Sadie; son Joe Jr.; and daughter, Stephanie.
Funeral services were planned for Monday in New York.
