Joe Wood

From SoSH

"Smoky Joe" Wood (born Howard Ellsworth Wood, October 25, 1889 in Kansas City, MO), was one of the greatest pitchers in Red Sox history. His Adjusted ERA+ is the third best in Major League history (tied with Walter Johnson). Wood made his debut in 1908. An injury cut short his career on the mound after eight seasons, but he played six more years as an outfielder with Cleveland.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Moment in the Sun 3 Trivia 4 Quotes 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

Smoky Joe Wood started his brief but illustrious Red Sox career at the tender age of 18 in 1908. By 1915 he had won 117 games for the Red Sox, and he was only 25 years old, but shoulder pain forced him to sit out 1916. He would only pitch 18.1 more innings from 1917 to 1920 while converting to an outfielder with old roomy Tris Speaker's Cleveland club.

The seven full seasons that Joe Wood did get to shine in Boston, he shined brightly. His ERA never rose above 2.62 in a Sox uniform and he was a big game performer during two World Championship seasons.

Smoky Joe possibly turned in the most amazing single season performance baseball has ever seen in the Sox' title year of 1912. His magical 34-5 record coupled with a 1.91 ERA are mind-boggling to say the least, but even more unbelievable are the 35 complete games and 344 innings pitched. Wood was certainly a master of his craft in 1912 as he won three games in the World Series as well.

Joe earned the nickname "Smoky" because of the blazing fastball he featured was fabled to leave a smoke trail on the way to the plate. What few knew was that throwing that many smoky fastballs put an essentially unbearable strain on the arm. After his ungodly 344 IP in 1912, Joe only went 259 innings over the next two full seasons combined. He was effective in that span though, going 20-8.

In 1915, Wood was once again unhittable, but needed extra days of rest between each start because of his constant shoulder pain. He posted a 1.49 ERA, the lowest in the league, and won 15 games, giving him 117 Red Sox wins total. He would stay on 117 forever as an arm injury put him out of commission for the 1915 World Series and the entire 1916 season.

Wood tried to make a comeback as a pitcher for his old buddy Tris Speaker's Cleveland Indians but saw only limited action and was eventually converted into an outfielder. Joe's batting average was .283 in 14 seasons as a pitcher and outfielder, and he hit 23 home-runs. In his final two years he hit .366 in 1921 and had 92 RBIs in 1922 (one of the highest RBI for a player's final year), before being lured away from the game by Yale University.

Smoky Joe Wood obviously pitched in a time where pitch-counts and four days rest were unheard of, but one can't help but wonder what he would have been able to do if his prized pitching arm hadn't been rendered useless after seven seasons of vicious wear and tear.

Wood finished his career with a record of 117-57 with a lifetime ERA of 2.03 (he pitched a few games for Cleveland which raised his 1.99 ERA with the Red Sox).

Some notable Red Sox records (from the Red Sox Media Guide) held by Smoky Joe Wood are:

Red Sox team record for wins/season

1.) 34 Joe Wood

2.) 33 Cy Young

Red Sox career earned run average

1.) 1.99 Joe Wood

2.) 2.00 Cy Young

3.) 2.12 Ernie Shore

4.) 2.13 Dutch Leonard

5.) 2.19 Babe Ruth

Red Sox shutouts/season

1.) 10 Joe Wood (tie)

1.) 10 Cy Young (tie)

3.) 9 Babe Ruth

4.) 8 Roger Clemens

Red Sox consecutive wins/season

1.) 16 Joe Wood

2.) 14 Roger Clemens

3.) 13 Ellis Kinder

4.) 12 Cy Young

Red Sox best single season winning percentage (min 20 games)

1.) .872 Joe Wood

2.) .857 Roger Clemens

3.) .852 Pedro Martinez

Moment in the Sun

• In 1912: 34-5, 1.91 ERA, 10 shutouts, American League record 16-consecutive regular season wins.
• Threw a no-hit, no-run, game on July 29, 1911 vs. St. Louis.

Trivia

• Wood was a member of three World Series championship teams; 1912 and 1915 with the Red Sox and 1920 with the Indians.
• Holds two Red Sox single season pitching records; 34 Wins and 10 Shutouts (Tied with Cy Young)
• Owns the lowest career ERA by a Red Sox pitcher at 1.99, besting Cy Young (2.00) by .01 run.
• Was Head Coach of the Yale University baseball team for two decades, and recieved an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Yale, presented by A. Bartlett Giamatti.
• His son, Joe Wood Jr., played for him at Yale from 1938 to 1941 and later played briefly for the Red Sox in 1944. Smoky Joe's other sons, Steve and Bob, both played for Colgate, and each spent time playing minor league ball.
• He and Babe Ruth are the only two players to appear in different world series as a pitcher and as an outfielder.
• Although not in the Hall of Fame, Smoky Joe was included in Lawrence Ritter & Donald Honig's 1981 book, The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

Quotes

• "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood." -- Walter Johnson

Transactions

• February 24, 1917: Purchased by the Cleveland Indians from the Boston Red Sox.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis