Recognized, Not Imitated

Wilbur Wood must have done something right in a life that ended on Saturday. How many White Sox pitchers merit an obit in the NYT/Athletic? Wood did by performing some pretty incredible feats throwing a knuckleball that he polished with help from HOFer Hoyt Wilhelm. First, Wood excelled as a reliever for the Sox, appearing in as many as 86 games (1968, when he also started two games and posted a 1.87 ERA overall). Then came Chuck Tanner, named manager in 1970, followed by Wood the starter. Wood won 20 or more games four straight seasons, 1971-74. In 1972, he threw an eye-popping 376.2 innings, the most since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1917. Needless to say, nobody has come close to 376.2 innings since. If Alexander belongs to baseball long ago, so does Wood (and me, too, by extension). Consider that between them in 1974, Wood and Jim Kaat combined to start 81 out of 163 games for the Sox, and they both won 20 or more games, Wood with 20 and Kaat 21. In case you’re wondering, some bizarre ground rules led to a 163-game season for the Sox, with three ties. Wood said that his father threw a mean palm ball that he couldn’t master because his hand was too small. But he did fine with the knuckleball. Baseball-reference.com give him a WAR of 50, which might have been considerably higher had he managed to avoid a line drive off the bat of Ron LeFlore that shattered a knee in 1976. By his own admission, he didn’t pitch the same after that, trying to avoid another such injury. Who knows, he might have been good for another 50-100 wins. Did I mention that Felix Hernandez, whom nine Athletic writers saw fit to vote for entry into Cooperstown, has a WAR of 49.8?