The story of Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood is typical in that we have a power pitcher who was dominant for a short time, only for arm fatigue to cause an early end of his pitching career (though he would continue to play, but we'll get to that later)
Wood debuted for the Red Sox as a teenager in 1908, and in 1910, he went 12-13 with a 1.69 ERA. The year after, he won 23 games and led the American League in FIP (2.13) and SO/9 (7.5), and he was viewed as one of the hardest throwers in baseball. 1912 would be his best season in the game, as he had a league-leading 34 wins against only 5 Losses. He also posted an ERA of 1.91 and a career-best WHIP of 1.015. That year, the Red Sox won the pennant and went on to win the World Series, where Wood went 3-1.
Wood remained an excellent pitcher over the next three seasons, but he did not bounce back as quickly and made only 64 appearances. He would win the ERA Title in 1915 (1.49) but was unable to play in the 1915 World Series, which Boston would win.
That was it for Wood in Boston, as he sat out 1916 and would never pitch for the Red Sox again. The Cleveland Indians would purchase his contract before the 1917 season.
It should be noted that Wood was an above-average hitting pitcher who batted .244 for Boston. Because he was such a good hitter, he was able to continue playing (albeit in Cleveland) until 1922, where he had 432 Hits for the Tribe.
Comments powered by CComment