Got Wood? Not Anymore We Don't

Kerry Wood rode off into the sunset May 18^th, 2012 after one final appearance against the White Sox.  As I watched that appearance, this article wrote itself in my head in about five minutes.  Obviously it’s taken a lot longer to get it from my mind to the keyboard.

I was struck with a lot of emotions that Friday afternoon, watching Kerry jog in from the bullpen for what we all knew was his final appearance.  Apprehension that he have a good outing.  Sadness that this was it.  Slight disappointment that his career didn’t have the Hall of Fame accomplishments it should have.  Pure joy as his threw three straight strikes to appropriately finish his career by striking out Dayan Viciedo.  And then as Kerry walked off the field something else happened that caused me to find some tears welling up.  As he reached the dugout his son came out to give him a hug.  Kerry lifted him in his arms and carried him off the field, eventually sitting next to him on the bench listening to his son talk about something, probably unrelated to the fact that his dad just pitched his final game.

Here’s where I begin the blasphemy with baseball fans.  I made the comment to my cousin that watching that scene with Wood and his son was the most emotional baseball moment since I watched the movie, no – not Field of Dreams but The Rookie.  Yes the Disney movie with Dennis Quaid.   If you’re willing to stick with me on this, I’ll explain.

When we watch movies we usually identify with the main character.  So in Field of Dreams we’re Kevin Costner, in The Rookie we’re Dennis Quaid.  The big scene in Field of Dreams that everyone gets choked up about is “Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?”  Great scene, very touching but it never really hit home for me like it did for others.  Now I know in the movie Costner’s character didn’t have much or any of a relationship with his father, but the thing that most men cling to in that scene is that it either reminded them of playing catch with their dad and making that father/son/baseball connection or wishing they could have one more catch.  I never had that connection/relationship with my dad.  Oh sure, we played catch, usually for about five minutes before he would think of some project he wanted to do around the house.  So while I loved Field of Dreams, the catch at the end of the movie didn’t make me want to play catch, it reminded me of the disappointment of not playing catch.

I watched The Rookie late one night while everyone was asleep.  As it progressed I saw the connection between Quaid and his son.  Having a four year old son of my own, I saw me and Cooper when Quaid had to leave his family to go to the minors.  I saw the heartbreaking phone calls home as he was conflicted with chasing his dream vs. missing his family.  The breaking point for me was when Quaid finally was called up to the majors.  He’s sitting in the ‘pen and looks up to see his family looking down at him.  That’s where it really got me, the pride of the family seeing that he made it and the pride in Quaid for his accomplishment and what it meant to his family, not just financially but also in the lesson to his children that if you set your mind to it, wonderful things can happen.  Cried like a baby watching that scene in the bullpen.

And so when Wood walked off the field into the arms of his son who isn’t much older than Cooper, I identified with Wood and the connection he has with his son.  So it makes sense, the Wood/retiring and The Rookie instead of Field of Dreams connection, right?  Well it does in my mind.

And even though we won’t see number 34 walking out to the mound any longer, we do have lasting images.  Wood pumping his fist as he struck out the 20^th Astro to end the game and then in the on-field postgame interview his hand shaking so bad he couldn’t hold the microphone still. 

Upon the completion of that game, The Professor (proud Owner of the Ruffins who owned Wood in ’98) jumped on the TQS message board and simply typed “Kerry Wood!” to which Head Copperfield responded “Hey look everybody!  Dave’s got Wood!”  The wit in our league runs like molasses.

My final thought on Kerry retiring is:  Should his number be retired?  The moment he walked off the mound against the Sox and in the ensuing days, I emphatically thought “Yes”.  Now that it’s been a few weeks, I still think that retiring Wood’s number would be appropriate.  The Cubs have retired four numbers for five players (Banks – 14; Williams – 26; Santo – 10; Maddux/Jenkins – 31) so it’s obvious they don’t just hand out retired numbers like candy at Halloween.  They also don’t have a policy of retiring a number only for a Hall of Famer.  Now it turns out the five players already honored will be in the Hall (Maddux is a lock) but Maddux and Santo had their number retired before their induction and for Santo his induction was certainly not a sure thing.

Maddux was honored for being a Cub but also more for his entire body of work.  As a Cub (in 10 years) he was 133 and 112, had a 3.61 ERA and a 1.24 WHiP.  He had three really good years including a Cy  Young Award and one post-season appearance before moving to Atlanta and becoming GREG MADDUX.  So honoring him for his entire body of work I will call that the “Something Special Factor”.

            As a comparison, if we look at Maddux vs. Rick Sutcliffe, only their Cub careers, we see come interesting similarities.  Sutcliffe average a 10-8 record for his 8 years with the Cubs, Maddux was 13-11 for his 10 years.  Sutcliffe had three good years as well, one of which was SPECTACULAR (1984), one Cy Young and two post-season appearances.  His ERA was close to Maddux; 3.74 vs. 3.61 and his WHiP wasn’t as good; 1.31 vs. 1.24, but not terribly off either.  As much as I love Sutcliffe and he’s one of my top three all-time starters for as long as I’ve been watching the Cubs, (Wood and Maddux filling out the top 3), I don’t think #40 should be retired for Sutcliffe.  That’s my argument, looking at the numbers, that Maddux benefitted from the “Something Special Factor”.

Banks, Williams and Santo essentially spent their entire career with the Cubs and crafted their Hall of Fame body of work at Wrigley, they didn’t need the Something Special Factor.

Fergie Jenkins had a little of both.  He became FERGUSON JENKINS when he was traded to the Cubs (much like Maddux when he signed with the Braves).  But I doubt he could have made the Hall simply with his Cub numbers, although had he not been traded he might have won the other 117 with the Cubs anyway, but history is he didn’t.  Logically his number is retired as much for the six straight 20 win seasons as it is for the Hall of Fame election.

Kerry Wood will never get to the Hall of Fame aside from whatever memorabilia made it from May 6, 1998.  But he did have May 6, 1998.  He had Game 5 of the NLDS against Atlanta in 2003.  He had numerous injuries that he . . .kept . . . coming. . . back . . .from.  He fought like hell to get back on the field, probably earlier than he should have.  He established himself as a fixture in Chicago with his Wood Foundation.  He stood in front of reporters after Game 7 of the NLCS in ‘03 and lied that he “choked” when two of his teammates had already booked flights to the Dominican Republic the day before.  He came back to Chicago in 2011 for significantly less money so he could come home and do whatever he could to get the Cubs to the post-season.  And if rumors are true, he took a bat to Sosa’s boombox.  For that he deserves a statue.

He had an unfulfilled career based on the promise we all saw in 1998.  But he was a beloved Cub, a committed Chicagoan.  He was, and is, something special and his number should fly from the foul pole forever.