Smokey Joe Wood
Encyclopedia
Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood (October 25, 1889 – July 27, 1985) was a Major League Baseball
pitcher
for the Boston Red Sox
and an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians
during the early part of the 20th century. He is one of only 13 pitchers who won 30 or more games in one season (34-5 in 1912) since 1900.
though a native of Ness County, Kansas
, Wood made his playing debut with the mostly-female "Bloomer Girls." There were many such teams across the country, which barnstormed in exhibition games against teams of men. Bloomer Girl rosters featured at least one male player.
After joining the Red Sox in 1908 at the age of 18, Wood had his breakthrough season in 1911
in which he won 23 game
s, compiled an earned run average
of 2.02, threw a no-hitter
against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 batters in a single game. Wood once struck out 23 batters in an exhibition game. He earned the nickname "Smoky Joe" because of his blazing fastball
. Wood once said, "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right off my body."
His peers concurred. Legendary fastballer and pitching contemporary Walter Johnson
once said, "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood!" Reminded of Johnson's assessment sixty years later, Wood said, "Oh, I don't think there was ever anybody faster than Walter."
, in which he won 34 games while losing only 5, had an ERA of 1.91 and struck out 258. Since 1900, pitchers have won 30 or more games only 21 times, with Wood's 34 wins being the sixth-highest total. He also tied Walter Johnson's record for consecutive victories with 16.
On September 6, 1912, Wood faced off against Johnson in a pitching duel at Fenway Park
. At the time, Wood had a 13-game winning streak and Johnson had recently had his own 14-game winning streak snapped. The papers of the time hyped the matchup like a heavyweight prize fight, and a standing-room-only crowd of 29,000 packed the park that day. Johnson and Wood duelled to a scoreless tie through five innings, when with two outs in the sixth, Boston's Tris Speaker
doubled to left on a 1-2 count and Duffy Lewis
knocked him in with a double down the right-field line. However, Wood gave up only two hits and the Red Sox prevailed, 1-0.
Equally compelling in drama, Wood's Red Sox faced John McGraw
's New York Giants in the historic 1912 World Series
. After slugging it out in seven close games, the teams met for the deciding game eight at Fenway with future Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson
starting for the Giants. After Boston tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Wood came in to pitch. He matched Mathewson in the eighth and ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Fred Merkle
got to Wood knocking in a run with a single. But in the bottom of the tenth, Clyde Engle
, pinch-hitting for Wood, hit an easy fly ball to Fred Snodgrass
in center field, and Snodgrass dropped the ball. Given new life, the "Snodgrass Muff" cost the Giants as Speaker and Larry Gardner
each knocked in a run to overcome the 1-run deficit. Wood and the Red Sox won the game 3-2 and the series 4-3-1. For Wood, the game was his third win in the series against one loss. He also struck out 11 batters in one game, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game.
. He fell and broke his thumb
, and pitched in pain for the following three seasons. Although he maintained a winning record and a low ERA, his appearances were limited as he could no longer recover quickly from pitching a game. Wood sat out the 1916 season and most of the 1917 season, and for all intents and purposes ended his pitching career.
Late in the 1917 season, Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians, where he rejoined former teammate Tris Speaker
. Always proficient with the bat, he embarked on a second career; like his former teammate Babe Ruth
, Wood ended his career as an outfielder
. His hitting statistics, however, were far more pedestrian than those of Ruth. Nonetheless, Wood finished in the top 10 in the American League in runs batted in in two seasons (1918 and 1922), and in 1918 he also finished in the top ten in home run
s, doubles
, batting average
and total bases
. Wood pitched seven more times, all but one game in relief, winning none and losing one. He also appeared in four games in the 1920 World Series
.
Wood finished his major league career after the 1922 season with a pitching record of 117-57 and an ERA of 2.03. His lifetime batting average
was .283. In his final season with the Indians, he had his highest hit total for a season with 150, and also set a personal mark for RBI with 92.
, where he compiled a career managing record of 283-228-1 over 20 seasons. While at Yale, he coached his son Joe
, who pitched briefly for the 1944 Red Sox.
Decades later, in 1981, Wood was present at a historic pitcher's duel between Yale University
and Saint John's University, featuring future major leaguers Ron Darling
and Frank Viola
. Darling threw 11 no-hit innings for Yale, matched by Viola's 11 shutout innings
for St. John's. Wood, sitting in the stands, recalled Ty Cobb
and said, "A lot of fellows in my time shortened up on the bat when they had to--that's what the St. John's boys should try against this good pitcher." Darling lost the no-hitter and the game in the 12th, and Wood called it the best baseball game he had ever seen. The account was recorded in Roger Angell
's 1982 book Late Innings, and, later, in the anthology Game Time: A Baseball Companion.
In 1984, Wood received a standing ovation on Old Timers Day at Fenway Park
in Boston, some 72 years after his memorable season.
Aged 94, he said he was happy that Boston remembered him as "Smoky."
Wood died in West Haven, Connecticut
on July 27, 1985. He was buried in Shohola Township, Pennsylvania
. In 1995, he was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
.
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
and Donald Honig
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. Wood was also interviewed for Ritter's famous book, The Glory of Their Times
.
On August 27, 2005, the Society for American Baseball Research
's Connecticut Chapter named itself the Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood SABR Chapter.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
and an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
during the early part of the 20th century. He is one of only 13 pitchers who won 30 or more games in one season (34-5 in 1912) since 1900.
Professional debut
"Smoky Joe" played his first amateur baseball for the local miners teams in Ouray, ColoradoOuray, Colorado
The historic City of Ouray is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 813 at the U.S. Census 2000 and 1,000 as of the U.S. Census 2010...
though a native of Ness County, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Wood made his playing debut with the mostly-female "Bloomer Girls." There were many such teams across the country, which barnstormed in exhibition games against teams of men. Bloomer Girl rosters featured at least one male player.
After joining the Red Sox in 1908 at the age of 18, Wood had his breakthrough season in 1911
1911 in baseball
-Champions:*World Series: Philadelphia Athletics over New York Giants -Awards and honors:*Chalmers Award**Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers, OF**Wildfire Schulte, Chicago Cubs, OF-MLB statistical leaders:-American League final standings:...
in which he won 23 game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s, compiled an earned run average
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
of 2.02, threw a no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 batters in a single game. Wood once struck out 23 batters in an exhibition game. He earned the nickname "Smoky Joe" because of his blazing fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
. Wood once said, "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right off my body."
His peers concurred. Legendary fastballer and pitching contemporary Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson
Walter Perry Johnson , nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators...
once said, "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood!" Reminded of Johnson's assessment sixty years later, Wood said, "Oh, I don't think there was ever anybody faster than Walter."
1912 Season
Wood's best season came in 19121912 in baseball
-Champions:*World Series: Boston Red Sox over New York Giants -Awards and honors:*Chalmers Award**Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox, OF** Larry Doyle, New York Giants, 2B-MLB statistical leaders:-American League final standings:...
, in which he won 34 games while losing only 5, had an ERA of 1.91 and struck out 258. Since 1900, pitchers have won 30 or more games only 21 times, with Wood's 34 wins being the sixth-highest total. He also tied Walter Johnson's record for consecutive victories with 16.
On September 6, 1912, Wood faced off against Johnson in a pitching duel at Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
. At the time, Wood had a 13-game winning streak and Johnson had recently had his own 14-game winning streak snapped. The papers of the time hyped the matchup like a heavyweight prize fight, and a standing-room-only crowd of 29,000 packed the park that day. Johnson and Wood duelled to a scoreless tie through five innings, when with two outs in the sixth, Boston's Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
doubled to left on a 1-2 count and Duffy Lewis
Duffy Lewis
George Edward "Duffy" Lewis , born in San Francisco, California, was a left fielder and left-handed batter who played Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees and Washington Senators...
knocked him in with a double down the right-field line. However, Wood gave up only two hits and the Red Sox prevailed, 1-0.
John McGraw
John McGraw may refer to:* John McGraw , , New York lumber tycoon, and one of the founding trustees of Cornell University* John McGraw , , Governor of Washington state from 1893–1897...
's New York Giants in the historic 1912 World Series
1912 World Series
In the 1912 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three .This dramatic series showcased great pitching from Giant Christy Mathewson and from Boston fireballer Smoky Joe Wood. Wood won two of his three starts and pitched in relief in the final game...
. After slugging it out in seven close games, the teams met for the deciding game eight at Fenway with future Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson
Christy Mathewson
Christopher "Christy" Mathewson , nicknamed "Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", or "Matty", was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire career in what is known as the dead-ball era...
starting for the Giants. After Boston tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Wood came in to pitch. He matched Mathewson in the eighth and ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Fred Merkle
Fred Merkle
Frederick Charles Merkle , also known as "Bonehead" Merkle, was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball...
got to Wood knocking in a run with a single. But in the bottom of the tenth, Clyde Engle
Clyde Engle
Arthur Clyde "Hack" Engle was a utility player who played in Major League Baseball between and . Listed at 5' 10", 190 lb., Engle batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Dayton, Ohio....
, pinch-hitting for Wood, hit an easy fly ball to Fred Snodgrass
Fred Snodgrass
Frederick Carlisle "Snow" Snodgrass was an American center fielder in Major League baseball from 1908 to 1916 for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves. He played under manager John McGraw and with some of the game's early greats, including Christy Mathewson...
in center field, and Snodgrass dropped the ball. Given new life, the "Snodgrass Muff" cost the Giants as Speaker and Larry Gardner
Larry Gardner
William Lawrence "Larry" Gardner was a third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1908 through 1924, Gardner played for the Boston Red Sox , Philadelphia Athletics, and Cleveland Indians . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
each knocked in a run to overcome the 1-run deficit. Wood and the Red Sox won the game 3-2 and the series 4-3-1. For Wood, the game was his third win in the series against one loss. He also struck out 11 batters in one game, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game.
Position player
The following year, Wood slipped on wet grass while fielding a bunt in a game against the Detroit TigersDetroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
. He fell and broke his thumb
Thumb
The thumb is the first digit of the hand. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position , the thumb is the lateral-most digit...
, and pitched in pain for the following three seasons. Although he maintained a winning record and a low ERA, his appearances were limited as he could no longer recover quickly from pitching a game. Wood sat out the 1916 season and most of the 1917 season, and for all intents and purposes ended his pitching career.
Late in the 1917 season, Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians, where he rejoined former teammate Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
. Always proficient with the bat, he embarked on a second career; like his former teammate Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
, Wood ended his career as an outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
. His hitting statistics, however, were far more pedestrian than those of Ruth. Nonetheless, Wood finished in the top 10 in the American League in runs batted in in two seasons (1918 and 1922), and in 1918 he also finished in the top ten in home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s, doubles
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
, batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
and total bases
Total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i.e., the sum of his hits weighted by 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.Only bases attained from hits count toward this total....
. Wood pitched seven more times, all but one game in relief, winning none and losing one. He also appeared in four games in the 1920 World Series
1920 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 5, 1920 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York-Game 2:Wednesday, October 6, 1920 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York-Game 3:Thursday, October 7, 1920 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York-Game 4:...
.
Wood finished his major league career after the 1922 season with a pitching record of 117-57 and an ERA of 2.03. His lifetime batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
was .283. In his final season with the Indians, he had his highest hit total for a season with 150, and also set a personal mark for RBI with 92.
Later career
Wood went on to become head baseball coach at Yale UniversityYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he compiled a career managing record of 283-228-1 over 20 seasons. While at Yale, he coached his son Joe
Joe Wood (1944 pitcher)
Joe Frank Wood was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played briefly for the Boston Red Sox during the season. Listed at 6' 0", 190 lb., Wood batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Shohola, Pennsylvania...
, who pitched briefly for the 1944 Red Sox.
Decades later, in 1981, Wood was present at a historic pitcher's duel between Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and Saint John's University, featuring future major leaguers Ron Darling
Ron Darling
Ronald Maurice Darling, Jr. is an American former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics and Montreal Expos...
and Frank Viola
Frank Viola
Frank John Viola, Jr. is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins , New York Mets , Boston Red Sox , Cincinnati Reds and Toronto Blue Jays . A three-time All-Star, he was named World Series MVP with the Twins in 1987 and won the AL Cy Young Award in 1988...
. Darling threw 11 no-hit innings for Yale, matched by Viola's 11 shutout innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
for St. John's. Wood, sitting in the stands, recalled Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
and said, "A lot of fellows in my time shortened up on the bat when they had to--that's what the St. John's boys should try against this good pitcher." Darling lost the no-hitter and the game in the 12th, and Wood called it the best baseball game he had ever seen. The account was recorded in Roger Angell
Roger Angell
Roger Angell is an American essayist. He has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was its chief fiction editor for many years...
's 1982 book Late Innings, and, later, in the anthology Game Time: A Baseball Companion.
In 1984, Wood received a standing ovation on Old Timers Day at Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
in Boston, some 72 years after his memorable season.
Aged 94, he said he was happy that Boston remembered him as "Smoky."
Wood died in West Haven, Connecticut
West Haven, Connecticut
West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 52,721.-History:...
on July 27, 1985. He was buried in Shohola Township, Pennsylvania
Shohola Township, Pennsylvania
Shohola Township is a township in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,475 at the 2010 census.Within Shohola Township there are a number of summer camps, including Lake Owego Camp for Boys and Camp Shohola for Boys.-Geography:...
. In 1995, he was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
The Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame was instituted in 1995 to recognize the careers of former Boston Red Sox baseball players. A 15-member selection committee of Red Sox broadcasters and executives, past and present media personnel, and representatives from The Sports Museum of New England and the...
.
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence S. Ritter was an American writer whose specialties were economics and baseball.Ritter was a professor of economics and finance, and chairman of the Department of Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration of New York University. He also edited the academic periodical...
and Donald Honig
Donald Honig
Donald Martin Honig is a novelist, historian and editor who mostly writes about baseball.While a member of the Bobo Newsom Memorial Society, an informal group of writers, Honig attempted to get Lawrence Ritter to write a sequel to The Glory of their Times. Ritter declined but gave Honig his blessing...
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. Wood was also interviewed for Ritter's famous book, The Glory of Their Times
The Glory of Their Times
The Glory of Their Times: The Story Of The Early Days Of Baseball Told By The Men Who Played It is a book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, telling the stories of early 20th century baseball...
.
On August 27, 2005, the Society for American Baseball Research
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown, New York, in August 1971 by Bob Davids of Washington, D.C. The Society's mission is to foster the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball, while generating interest in the game...
's Connecticut Chapter named itself the Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood SABR Chapter.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
- 1912 World Series1912 World SeriesIn the 1912 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three .This dramatic series showcased great pitching from Giant Christy Mathewson and from Boston fireballer Smoky Joe Wood. Wood won two of his three starts and pitched in relief in the final game...