Wilbur Wood

                                                                                                             
Wilbur Forrester Wood, the knuckler.

The end of Wilbur Wood's 18-year career came after the 1978 season, just two years after his kneecap was shattered on a line drive by Detroit's Ron LeFlore.
But it wasn't by choice.

"I didn't retire, I never retired," said the 60-year-old Wood, who now lives in Bedford, Mass. "Nobody offered me a uniform."

At the time of the injury Wood was 4-3 with a 2.24 ERA and the most durable pitcher in baseball. He had averaged over 300 innings a season since 1971 and was only 34 at the time of the accident.


"I've never been shot," Wood said. "But I guess it felt like a gunshot wound. I can remember it because LeFlore hit the ball inside out and when anybody hits the ball inside out it's tough to pick up. I wasn't trying to catch it I was trying to get the hell out of the way."

There's little doubt in Wood's mind that the freak occurrence led to a premature end of his career.
"No question about it," Wood said. "I was throwing the ball good at that time, I guess. If it hadn't happened I'm sure I could have had many more years. I can't complain. I had a good career.
Wood began his career with Boston in 1961 and also spent some time with Pittsburgh before the Pirates trade him to the White Sox in 1966.

Over the next 12 seasons Wood had one of the most remarkable and versatile runs of the modern era. During his first four seasons with the Sox Wood was a spot starter and closer, at least as the burgeoning role was defined at that time.

"When we pitched relief it wasn't uncommon to pitch three innings," Wood said. "If you were a closer back then you were expected to go three innings and you were expected to do that day in and day out. It's all changed. Whether it's good, bad or different, I have no idea."
Wood posted a career-high 21 saves in 1970, the same year that Chuck Tanner took over as the White Sox manager in mid-season. When 1971 began Tanner and asked Wood to move into the rotation.

Wood had found a new salvation.

It was a great move for the Sox as Wood won at least 20 games each of the next four seasons but it was hard on Wood, who relished playing nearly every day or at least coming to the park knowing there was a chance to get in.

From 1971 to 1974 Wood threw 85 complete games and threw over 300 innings each season, including a high of 376 2/3 innings in 1972 when he went 24-17.

There were mainly four-man rotations back in the 70's which meant Wood sat three of every four games, which was far too much for him.

"I pitched a lot of innings but the worst thing about being a pitcher, especially a starter, is coming to the ballpark and knowing I'm not going to participate," Wood said. "That was my philosophy. I'd take hundreds of ground balls in the infield, I enjoyed that. Every time you took a ground ball you had to pick that up and throw it back in. So you were getting some throwing in."
Wood began throwing the knuckleball as a kid but never really used it professionally until he came to a sobering realization.

"I couldn't get anybody out with my fastball and curveball for three or four innings," he said.
And thus began Wood's career as a knuckleballer. Even now there are usually no more than a few big leaguers who throw the knuckeball -- Detroit's Steve Sparks and Boston's Tim Wakefield come to mind -- and it wasn't much different in Wood's day.
What he loved so much about that pitch was that it allowed him to be on the field far more often than if he was wearing down his arm throwing curvers and sliders.

Wood might best be remembered for being perhaps the last pitcher to throw both ends of a double-header, a feat he accomplished twice in 1973. The first began with the completion of a suspended game but the second was a true double-header against the New York Yankees in which he started and lost both games.

"We had a suspended game (against Cleveland) and my turn was to pitch the next day," Wood said. "I picked up the suspended game and happened to go five or six innings. Dick Allen hit a two-run homer to win it, then I went out and won the next one."
Wood didn't consider staying in baseball after he finished playing. All those years on the road had taken its toll and returning to a quiet New England life was an inviting proposition.

"I really didn't (want to coach) because of the travel," Wood said. "You had a home six months of the year in one port and six months in another. I had enough of the travel."
Wood opened a fish market near his hometown of Bedford, Mass. and then after about five years he moved in another direction, entering a business -- medical sales -- that enabled him to put his reputation as a baseball player to good use.

"It helped a great deal because I had the New England territory and I was pretty well known out here in New England." Wood said. "You make the initial call and they wanted autographs for theirs sons, grandsons. I said I'd give you a picture and I could show up with it. I didn't have to have an appointment.

"That gets you in the door. I did have a pretty good idea of what I was doing so it was secondary but it helped a great deal."
Wood was a Red Sox fan growing up and still enjoys watching the games on television but doesn't get out to the ballpark very often. He decided not to make the trek to Fenway last week when the White Sox were in town.

"I don't want to go to the ballpark," Wood said. "I enjoy it on TV because if it's a good ballgame I'll watch it. If it's a lousy ballgame I'll flip to something else."

However, he would have liked to have been there to see Derek Lowe and Jon Garland each throw gems for their respective teams, it brought back memories of how pitchers used to throw.

"Watching a game today I see too many pitchers that all they do is nit-pick," Wood said. "They don't challenge hitters, they don't go after hitter. Take the Red Sox right now. (Pedro) Martinez goes after them, Lowe goes after them. But now there are three more starters to go through and all they do is nitpick here, nitpick there. Go after them. They don't go after them like they used to."

Many players remain in the cities were they experienced their greatest success on the field but not Wood, who was attending his wife's retirement party on the night that Garland beat the Red Sox.

"Chicago was great," he said. "I loved everything, no doubt about it but I live in Bedford and when you can jump in your car and drive to the National Seashore or two hours to the White mountains, New England has so much to offer that we just love it out here."

The Colour of Sucess

Dredging the past and looking through the games origins you are bound to uncover nuggets of history, good and bad.


In terms of the bad, every time I read about the treatment of the players by the owners I cringe, and what was worse was how the game treated black players.

Black players eventually found a few benefactors and built their own league, and some did well enough financially, but many deemed it no better than organised slavery, in uniforms.

The white baseball players tried to form a union, or at least achive a semblance of basic players rights, but were dismissed and some who were identified were treated worse, and driven from the game, if possible.

Some black players tried to portray themselves as Cubans, or Spanish, or even native Indians, but black fans came out in droves to watch these players play, and so the disguised were found out, and were banished.

If you were an owner in the early years, before 1900, you controlled the fate of the peoples lives, it was as Marvin Miller coined , the "plantation" .

In coming days, I will chronicle the heroes of the Negro Leagues, the teams, the stars, and the way they were treated, by the white only major leagues, and the owners, and politicians.

Cool Papa Bell, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campenella, Satchel Paige, Curt Flood, and Ritchie Allen. Bog Gibson, Frank Robinson, Jim Rice, and many others. The separate quarters, the coloured part of town, the couloured hotels for blacks, and dressing rooms. 

Most people have no recollection of the integration process, and the hardships these players endured.  The first black manager, bench coach, stadiums filled with all black spectators , stadiums like Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, and Ebbets Field.

Black players in the 1960's were routinely paid 40 % less than their white counterparts, owners thought that with all that money in their hands, God knows what would happen.

Outer Space

Now pitching for the Alaska Goldpanners.  Wil-I -Am Lee, better known as the spaceman.


I short diversion from stars of yester-year , to acknowledge Bill Lee, known around baseball as the funniest or craziest of the ex players.

Dirk Hayhurst is coming on as a next era funnyman, writing about his exploits in the minors, but a backstage approach to riding buses in Texas, California, and Arizona, but make no mistake, his inspiration must have been Lee.

I would argue that irreverent baseball players turned writers goes back to Jimmy Bouton's vaunted "Ball Four" , a taboo piece about the New York Yankees, of Mantle, Berra, Martin and Ford. Trouble was the Yankees are sacrosanct and his stories about drunken parties, players kissing on the bus did not go over well.

By the time Billy started writing, we were into a different era, post Watergate, post Iran Contra, and the gloves were off.  Bill has missed out on Twitter, Facebook and blogging but Hayhurst will be the next generation, with ready quips during games, or pictures posted.

We now live in an instantaneous society whereupon if you think it, you can make it viral. Just push the button, and it is out there.

Bill Lee was a decent self made left hander born in California, to a sports oreinted family and he worked his way to the Boston Red Sox and was a key contributor for several seasons. His time was ended by a trade to the Expos until personal friend Rodney Scott was let go in a cost cutting measure.

The Old Hoss

A butcher by trade, CHARLES “OLD HOSS” RADBOURN received his moniker for his incredible endurance and dependability in an era when most teams employed a two-man pitching rotation. As a starting pitcher for the Providence Grays (1881–1885), Boston Beaneaters (1886–1889), Boston Red Stockings (1890) and Cincinnati Reds (1891), Radbourn compiled a 309–195 career record. In 1884 he won the National League's pitching Triple Crown with a 1.38 ERA, 60 wins and 441 strikeouts. His 60 wins in a season is a record which will never be broken.

Once asked if he ever tired of pitching so often, he replied, “Tired out tossing a little five-ounce baseball for two hours? I used to be a butcher. From four in the morning until eight at night I knocked down steers with a 25-pound sledge. Tired from playing 2-hours a day for 10 times the money I used to get for 16 hours a day?”

On July 22, 1884, Providence Grays pitcher Charlie Sweeney, 17-8, misses practice because he is drunk. He starts against the Philadelphia Quakers and, with the Grays ahead, 6-2, in the seventh inning; manager Frank Bancroft brings in Joe "Cyclone" Miller. Sweeney refuses to leave the "box" and is suspended. The Grays play the final two innings with only eight players and lose, 10–6, on eight unearned runs in the ninth inning. Sweeney is kicked off the team and lands in the Union Association with the St. Louis Maroons. Providence is left with only one starting pitcher—Charley “Old Hoss” Radbourn.

The following day, Providence Grays pitcher Radbourn begins what may be the most remarkable feat in baseball history. “Old Hoss” pledges to pitch every game for the rest of the season if the Grays would agree not to reserve him for the following year. He pitches in nine straight games, winning seven, losing one and tying one. He takes a “day off” and plays right field before returning to pitch six more consecutive games. He plays shortstop for a single game and then pitches in 20 more consecutive games, winning 10 before having his 20-game win streak stopped. He would lead the NL in wins with 60, an ERA of 1.38, innings pitches with 678.2, (1.1 innings shy of the record set by Will White, 680, of the Cincinnati Reds in 1879) strikeouts with 441, complete games with 73 and winning percentage with a .833 mark. The Grays would win the pennant by 10½ games over the Boston Beaneaters.

At the close of the season Providence officials accepted New York Metropolitans” (AA) manager Jim Mutrie's challenge to a three game postseason match. All of the games took place at the Polo Grounds in New York and were played under American Association rules, which forbade overhand pitching. This was no hindrance to Radbourn, who threw side arm.

On October 23, 1884, the Providence Grays (NL) whitewash the New York Metropolitans (AA), 6–0, behind Radbourn, in what is considered to be the first official postseason interleague game. Radbourn would allow two hits and strikeout nine. Tim Keefe is the loser.

The very next day, Radbourn three hits the Metropolitans and wins 3–1 in a game called after seven innings due to darkness. Grays third baseman Jerry Denny hits a three-run homer in the fifth inning. It is the first homerun in World Series history. Tim Keefe loses for the second time.

On October 25, 1884 the Providence Grays defeat the New York Metropolitans, 11–2, in the final game of the series. Radbourn wins for the third time in three days. Buck Becannon takes the loss as Tim Keefe, New York Metropolitans losing pitcher in games 1 and 2, umpired the contest.

Radbourn would pitch all three games, allow only 11 hits, strikeout 16, walk none and not allow an earned run. New York would bat .143 against Radbourn. Providence outscored New York 21-3 in winning all three games.

Despite his ability to sign with the club of his choosing, Radbourn remained with the Grays until 1886, when he joined the Boston Beaneaters. It was during his four-year stint with Boston that Radbourn gained notoriety of another sort. During a Boston/New York team photograph in 1886, he became the first public figure to be photographed extending his middle digit to the camera.

After a mediocre tour of duty with the Beaneaters, Radbourn joined the Boston Red Stockings of the Players' League in 1890, where he would lead the short-lived league in winning percentage (.692). The following year, he spent his last major league season with the Cincinnati Reds.

After retiring to Bloomington, Illinois, Radbourn owned and operated a billiard parlor and saloon. He would lose an eye in a hunting accident when his gun discharged accidentally. Less than six years after he threw his last pitch, Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn died at home of paresis on February 5th, 1897. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.