19 May 12
I'm happy for him that he was able to go out on his own terms, and with a strikeout. The ovation was for a career unfulfilled, for promise never achieved, and for what Kerry Wood represented -- the lost hopes of all of us who are Cubs fans, a personal embodiment of the dreams we all have, and that he now shares as a retired player, a Chicago resident who will root for his former team for the rest of his life, and hopefully become a part of the organization in some capacity. I don't have a lot of favorite players, but Kerry Wood is right at the top of the list.
There is one statistical achievement for Wood in his career that he, and all of us, can be proud of: there are just three pitchers in major-league history who have thrown at least 1,000 innings and struck out at least 10 hitters per nine innings. Wood, obviously, is one of them, at 10.3 per nine innings. The other two? Randy Johnson (10.61) and Pedro Martinez (10.04). Obviously, the others did it in far longer careers, but this suggests the kind of pitcher Wood could have been, the unfulfilled promise.
Incidentally, the Cubs lost to the White Sox 3-2, dropping to their lowest point of the season at nine games under .500 at 15-24. This recap is already getting pretty long; there were a whole bunch of notes, any of which could be their own post:
I'm happy for him that he was able to go out on his own terms, and with a strikeout. The ovation was for a career unfulfilled, for promise never achieved, and for what Kerry Wood represented -- the lost hopes of all of us who are Cubs fans, a personal embodiment of the dreams we all have, and that he now shares as a retired player, a Chicago resident who will root for his former team for the rest of his life, and hopefully become a part of the organization in some capacity. I don't have a lot of favorite players, but Kerry Wood is right at the top of the list.
There is one statistical achievement for Wood in his career that he, and all of us, can be proud of: there are just three pitchers in major-league history who have thrown at least 1,000 innings and struck out at least 10 hitters per nine innings. Wood, obviously, is one of them, at 10.3 per nine innings. The other two? Randy Johnson (10.61) and Pedro Martinez (10.04). Obviously, the others did it in far longer careers, but this suggests the kind of pitcher Wood could have been, the unfulfilled promise.
Incidentally, the Cubs lost to the White Sox 3-2, dropping to their lowest point of the season at nine games under .500 at 15-24. This recap is already getting pretty long; there were a whole bunch of notes, any of which could be their own post:
- Paul Konerko getting hit in the face by Jeff Samardzija after Konerko had hit a two-run homer. It did not appear intentional and Konerko, despite some facial swelling, will apparently be OK. That's good news.
- Another egregiously awful umpiring call by Eric Cooper, who allowed Gordon Beckham to push David DeJesus off second base and tag him out after DeJesus had slid in safe with a double. Replay now, please.
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