Kerry Wood isn't the greatest pitcher ever to take the mound at Wrigley Field. Well, for one day (just over two hours, really) he was. But now that his career is over, it's impossible to look at his final statistical tally and consider him a truly great pitcher. He sure did give us reason to hope he would be . . . I guess I'm a bit surprised he never earned the nickname Kerry Would. Or Kerry Woulda. Kerry Coulda? You get the poorly thought-out picture.
Wood had the stuff of greatness. A supersonic fastball. A heat-seaking slider. A curve that did as much damage to opposing hitters' knees as it did to his elbow. But his trip to Cooperstown was derailed by . . . Cubness. So many possibilities, so many dreams, so many imaginary victory parades postponed indefinitely by Dr. James Andrews and the Florida Marlins. It looked like Kerry Wood could be one of the all-time greats. It looked like he could lead the Cubs to the World Series. But it never happened. Because he was a Cub.
No, really, Kerry Wood spent his entire career essentially defining Cubness. Before Wood debuted in 1998, it had been an excruciatingly long drought since the previous postseason appearance. The Dark Ages of Cubdom between 1989 and 1998 brought nary a whiff of champagne to the dank Wrigley Field clubhouse. It was a really bad time to be a Cubs fan. As Yogi Berra used to say, "They sucked ass."
So when Kerry Wood fanned 20 in front of 15,000+ fans (including yours truly, as my good fortune would have it), it was pretty difficult not to hope with confidence that something special would happen very shortly . . . or, you know, in my lifetime. He had officially assumed the role as the embodiment of Cubs fans' hopes. Sure, Sammy played a big part in that too, but not nearly as long as Kerry did. Not for his entire career. For as long as Kerry Wood threw major league baseballs, he was the litmus test of how the Cubs were. He was the portrait of our hopes, our wishes, and the ruptured tendons of our now deferred dreams.
In 1998, he got us believing again. Then heartbreak. And then the shock of seeing an entire season sink before it began. In 1999, the Chicago Cubs and their fans suffered season-ending surgery. Oh, and Sammy kept hitting homers. But the Cubs suffered through a .414 winning percentage. And thus began a crazy relationship between the success of Kerry Wood and that of his team. I'm not implying causation with this correlation (although obviously there's some; it really helps the Cubs when their pitchers perform well). I'm just saying, as Kerry went, so went the Cubs, and so went the hearts of the fans.
Wood's best ERA+ seasons were 2008 (141), 2007 (140), 2003 (136), 1998 (129), 2001 (124), and 2004 (119). The Cubs had a winning record in every one of those years. The only other winning season the Cubs have had since 1998 was 2009, the year of Milton. Sure, Wood's 2007 consisted of 22 relief appearances, but his return at the end of that season just felt right.
Again, I'm not saying Kerry Wood was the sole or even primary reason for the Cubs' success in any of the years they did well. It's just an observation: when Kerry was going well, the Cubs were going well. And vice versa. Pretty much always.
That relationship was more emotional than statistical. For as unreliable as our feelings toward a player's performance may be, with Kerry they were somehow always pretty indicative of the state of Cubness. When he was healthy and reliable (or somewhat close to either), it felt good to be a Cubs fan. When we felt the rush of joy from watching him hit a swinging Fernando Vina with a slider, or post high-90s numbers to the radar gun, or . . . throw strikes and stuff, it always seemed to coincide with the Cubs actually being somewhat good. When he hit the DL? Yeah. Cubs fans' joy-o-meters fell as precipitously as the Cubs did down the standings.
Or so it felt. Our feelings might be liars, but with Kerry Wood, it was always nearly impossible to keep my emotions out of the picture. I don't think I'm alone. Kerry came up with the Cubs. We saw his career take shape. And he was a likeable player. He was consistently the guy to give the postgame interviews, win or lose. When we were pissed, when we were elated, it was Kerry in front of the microphones and cameras helping us cope or celebrate. And he seemed to like us, too.
So now that he's retiring, it's yet another sign that the Ricketts regime is the dawn of something new. We hope it will be something good. But I don't know that Theo and the Superfriends will ever bring along a player who more consistently embodies the pathos of the team and its fans quite like Kerry did. The Kerry years weren't the easiest to be a Cubs fan, but we sure did have some fun.
Thanks for the memories, Kerry. And sorry we never did come up with a decent nickname for you.
Comments
Well written, AC. You put it as well as anyone has so far. Not the greatest player by any means, but tons of potential, lots of hopes, lots of misery. Nice job.
mb21Quote Reply
Karros is really an annoying m’fer.
Also, really good write-up, AC.
cwolfQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Thanks, mb. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of watching guys who are younger than I am retiring from baseball. (dying laughing)
AndCountingQuote Reply
The boy: “The Cubs used to be good at baseball.”
Me: “Yes, like a thousand years ago.”
The boy: “That’s a really long time. I wish they were still good at baseball.”
From the mouth of babes.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ AndCounting:
Same here. Wood was one of the first baseball players that made me feel old. He looked so young in 1998 and even though I was only 24 I looked so much older than he did. He was a baby. Now the baby retired. It’s weird.
mb21Quote Reply
This was a blog I recently enjoyed. Kudos.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Nice.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Exactly. I’ve always thought of him as a kid. And every time I see that replay from ’98 I can’t believe how young he was. Then in 2003-4, it felt like the birth of a dynasty, and the starting staff was all so young. Holy crap did things go sour fast.
AndCountingQuote Reply
Spent the last 34 hours describing these exact feelings to my girlfriend (much to her dismay). Just read her this as proof (especially the statistical comparison) of what I’ve been saying. Best written example I’ve seen of how all true Cubs fans felt about Kerry, the team, and his role with it. Well done.
northsider4lifeQuote Reply
For me, 1998 was anything but heartbreaking. The regular season was a thrill from start to finish, and making the playoffs was the cherry on the sundae. I knew they were in way over their heads against the Braves and just shrugged it off when they got swept. I also looked forward to the season awards (particularly, ROY and MVP).
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Yeah, I wasn’t heartbroken in 1998. I have more positive memories that year than I do negative ones. I’m not sure I have any negative memories now that I think about it.
mb21Quote Reply
I have to admit now that I missed the entire 1998 season except the last couple of weeks.
joshQuote Reply
Soriano. Yay.
ACTQuote Reply
No shutout yay!
joshQuote Reply
Hooray for Mather.
ACTQuote Reply
Oh shit…Hope Monster time.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Oh come the fuck on Hope Monster! Why do you do this to me!?!?!
joshQuote Reply
Looks like it was a good thing I was out-Foxed on the TV coverage of this game. Oy.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Even when down seven runs, the Cubs put together the obligatory 9th inning rally (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
Don’t worry, Koyie will kill this rally quick.
joshQuote Reply
It ends with Koyie. Apropos.
ACTQuote Reply
@ josh:
FUCK
(dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
The Hope Monster dines.
joshQuote Reply
Hey, Soriano’s OBP > .300!
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ ACT:
That’s a good point. I mean, they got swept, and that sucked. But it was still a pretty special season.
AndCountingQuote Reply
Adam Jones is having a hell of a year so far.
joshQuote Reply
Orlando Hudson is continuing the White Sox’ proud tradition of signing All-Stars 10 years out of their prime.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ AndCounting:
I had zero expectations going in the the postseason (the Braves were awesome, the Cubs just barely squeaked into the Wild Card spot), so I wasn’t too disappointed by the result.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
I didn’t even have any expectations for that team at the all-star break. I remember talking to a friend of mine in Arizona who was a Giants fan and saying I’d be surprised if they’d make the playoffs. Despite that, it’s still one of the most memorable seasons for me. Between the HR chase and watching Kerry Wood it was a lot of fun. The HR chase was something I’ll probably never see again. Day in and day out excitement for the final 3 months of the season. Once Sosa hit 20 that June it was all that any baseball fan could talk about it. “how many did Sosa hit today?” “What about McGwire?” “Are they going to catch Babe Ruth?” It was awesome.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I started that HR race rooting for McGwire and hoping that he would win. I was glad he did, but Sammy Sosa was awesome and tons of fun to watch. McGwire was great but he was a bit too mechanical.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I wanted to Sosa to win, but I didn’t really care either. I just wanted to be able to see someone beat Ruth’s 62. It was unbelievable that 2 players did it. It would have been great with just 1 of them, but with 2 hitting them at that rate made it that much better.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I think both of them hit >62 the next year too. Then Bonds went bonkers and nobody ever wanted to pitch to him again.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
Ruth’s highest total was 60. Maris hit 61.
ACTQuote Reply
Cardenas in at 2b today
BerseliusQuote Reply
[spoiler title=”funny pic but hiding it because it’s a bit sexy”]
[/spoiler]
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
You find elephants sexy?
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Don’t you?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ ACT:
It’s probably better than elephants finding you sexy
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
That would be both flattering and flattening.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I think Sammy led the league in 1999 with 50 home runs or something like that. Then he hit 63 and 64 the next two seasons and didn’t lead the league either time. I think.
mb21Quote Reply
@ ACT:
just what I was thinking (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
(dying laughing) @ the Cubs pitchers trying to field balls.
mb21Quote Reply
Maholm just hung clown shoes on Ramirez
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ mb21:
(dying laughing) they took extra infield instead of BP yesterday
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Not quite.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=302&position=OF
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
He hit so many homers that most of us lost count.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Cubs baseball on display the first 2 innings.
mb21Quote Reply
(dying laughing) @ TOOTBLAN
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ ACT:
OK. So it was 2000 when he led the league in home runs, right?
mb21Quote Reply
McGwire hit 65 in 1999 and then never came close after that. Sosa hit 50 in 2000 and then 64 in 2001, but Bonds hit 73 that year.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
2000 and 2002.
ACTQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Really? Did they take extra baserunning too?
mb21Quote Reply
@ ACT:
He led the NL that year, but ARod had 57 and Thome 52. In 2000 Sosa hit 50 and Bonds was next in MLB with 49.
mb21Quote Reply
Steve Strasburg hit a home run.
ACTQuote Reply
Maholm is looking unsucky today.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Stras now has a .375/.412/.750 line. Sustainable?
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Totally.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Koyie is awesome
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Hawk Harrellson isn’t only the worst and most annoying announcer in baseball, he’s the most annoying man alive.
mb21Quote Reply
Awww, that was fair.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ ACT:
The Cubs should trade for him and put him at 2nd base.
mb21Quote Reply
Adam Dunn is a strong man.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/major-league-baseball/power-hitters-should-be-bunting-more-frequently.html
mb21Quote Reply