Growing Another Year Older in the Kerry Wood Era

Kerry Wood managed to sit down 20 Houston Astros on May 6th, 1998 by means of the strikeout in only his fifth major league start. It was a one-hit, no walk piece of pitching mastery. He joined Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens (who did it twice) as the only other pitchers to ever attain that tremendous distinction (The Big Unit’s game went 11 innings but he recorded all 20 strikeouts in the first nine innings of work. MLB has recently recognized this as having tied the record). According to statistician Bill James’s Game Score system, which attempts to assign a numerical value to a start, Wood’s performance scored a 105, the highest baseball history.

Today, we’re only seven weeks out from the 10th anniversary of The Kerry Wood Game. When this young Texas fireballer hit the scene the Cubs were merely the Sammy Sosa show with manager Jim Riggleman serving as the maestro of mediocrity. Things seemed to change that May afternoon because we had something to believe in, an anchor for the future. Wood won the ROY in 1998 with the following line: 13-6, 166 IP, 3.40 ERA, 233 K’s, 85 BB’s. The Cubbies made the playoffs as a wildcard and were promptly swept out of the postseason by the loaded Braves. Everyone always remembers that season as the Sosa-McGuire summer, but I’ll always remember it as something more. It was the year we got our first glimpse of Kerry Wood.

Cubs Haters and Masters of the Obvious love to point out that he’s only been an All-Star once, never won 15 games and only pitched over 200 innings twice. He’s considered a bust by all reasonable definitions of that word. Well, that’s only part of the story. For every Cubs fan, Kerry Wood represents something bigger than just his numbers. He’s pitched for the Cubs in three separate postseason appearances, something not many players can claim. He stroked one of the most memorable homeruns of my life (Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS). He took the hometown discount and assumed a new role for the good of the team. While I understand that he's only pitched 44 innings in the past two years (by far the least productive period of his career), I've got this feeling like he's finally healthy for once. This is the first time he's started the season off the DL and in the bullpen. I’m not exactly sure what to expect, but I wouldn't be shocked if he regained some of that magic we all know is there. I'm an optimist by necessity which is why I believe March is the greatest baseball month of the year. I also believe that Marmol, Howry and Wood in the 7th, 8th and 9th is a pretty damn ferocious trio. Opening Day can't come soon enough...

And without further ado, I give you the man I consider the second Mr. Cub of the modern era (after Ryno)...