Kerry Wood

UPDATE: For 2011 Kerry Wood, a free agent, and the Cubs have agreed to a one year contract. Kerry will be pitching out of the bullpen and most likely will be a set up man for Carlos Marmol.

Kerry Wood

Few players generated so much excitement right from the start of their Major Leagues career than Kerry Wood did with his entrance with the Chicago Cubs. It makes everything that came after, including the injuries and the fall off of performance all the more hard to deal with, because of all of the potential and promise he showed when healthy at his best. Despite all of this, Kerry Wood has had a notable career for a variety of reasons and will be down in the record books for quite some time.

 

Kerry Wood was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1995, and he spent three seasons in the minor leagues, moving through both the Daytona Cubs and Iowa Cubs. He finally made his debut in 1998, with his first game coming on April 12, 1998. The notable performance would come just a month later on May 6th, when in just his fifth career start he threw a complete game, one hitter, notching 20 strikeouts in the process, a phenomenal performance that is still talked about by Chicago Cubs fans and baseball fans everywhere.

 

Kerry Wood stikes out
20 Houston batters May 6, 1998

The 20 strikeouts in a single game was the most ever by a rookie, and it tied Roger Clemens for the most in a nine inning game ever.

Another unique statistic from that game is that Kerry Wood joined Bob Feller as the only two pitchers to ever tally enough strikeouts in one game to match their age. Feller did it in 1936 when at the age of 17 he struck out 17 batters, and of course Wood was 20 and 20 in 1998.

It was one of the most dominant pitching performances in the history of the game, and it was nearly a no hitter, with the sole hit being somewhat controversially not called an error.

 

With his performance throughout the entire season he took home Rookie of the Year honors, but he was never again to truly capture the magic that he did that year. Still, Kerry Wood goes down as the fastest pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts in terms of both games and innings pitched, to match his 20 strikeout in a nine inning game record. As of now, he's also number 2 all-time in terms of strikeouts per innings pitched, with an amazing 10.38 per every nine.

 

He missed all of 1999 following Tommy John surgery, and had a subpar 2000, before posting a solid 12-6 record in 2001. He had healthy and solid years in 2002 and 2003, particularly the second of which, when he set a career highs with 266 strikeouts and 14 wins, as well as two shutouts. He earned two postseason wins that year before the Chicago Cubs lost to the Florida Marlins in the NLCS. He was the losing pitcher in Game 7 of that series, although he did hit a homerun to help his own cause.

 

Wood would be in and out of the lineup from 2004 through 2006 before returning in 2007 and 2008 as a bullpen pitcher. In 2008 he was the closer for the Cubs, and tallied 34 saves. Since, he has jumped around, and most notably had a stint with the New York Yankees. There are always rumors that Kerry Wood can end up back with the Chicago Cubs again, but you never know how that sort of deal would work out. (Kerry Wood signed as a free agent with the Cubs December 17, 2010 for 1 year)

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