Evening star., 1912-09-08
Smoke Ball Pitcher Takes
Best of Care of Himself
Winter and Summer.
BEAT -MATHEWSON IN
SERIES TWO YEARS AGO
First Began to. Play Ball as
Shortstop, But Was Soon
Sent In to Pitch.
Special Dispatch to Ihe Star.

6pedss Dispatch to 1he Star.
BOSTON. Mass. September 7.-Christy
Mathewson and Rube MarQuard OF New
York maye be the princes Of the National
League pitchers. Big Ed Walsh may be
che bull moose Of the Chicago White Sox.
and the mighty Walter johnson of Wash
3ngton may be the best bet OF Washing
son, but the Boston base ball public
swears by the prowess OF young Joe
Wood. Smoky Joe Is the pride Of every
Bostonian and Is as much q part of the
base ball crazy town as are its baked
beans.
Younger than any of the quartet pre-
viously mentioned, the Kansas Cyclone.
as ne Is familiarly called in Beantown
has attracted the attention of the entire
country by his marvellous box work dur
ang the past four years. Now that the
Red Sox have met the worlds cham
pions and sent them down to three
straight defeats, fans all over the United
States are looking up in their dope books
the figures on the Boston team, and Joe
Wood In particular. Upon young Wood
even more than on iris Speaker, Wagner
Larry Gardner. Bill Carrigan and Jake
Stahl. do the American League partisans
pin their hopes in winning the champion
ship of the world in base ball.
He has had no press agents to boost
him as MarQuard. Honus Wagner. Joe
Jackson. Lajoie and other big men in
base ball. but before the worlds series
this fall is over Wood will be the most
talked of man In the country. T. r., Will
son and President Taft not excepted. 1t
is the plan of the Red Sox board Of
strategy to pitch Wood every other day
during the big series. For three months
now he has been pitching only about one
game a week. which is easy for Smoky
Joe. When the series for the worlds S
championship opens. Wood will be in
frst-class shape and will have all the
confidence in the team behind him
Is Twenty-Five Years Old.
In the first place Wood is twenty-five
years old. and has been an employe of
the Boston American League team for
the past four years. He is a right
handed pitcher and batter. and Is clever
IN nelding his position. This year he has
record, on September l. of twenty -eight
games won and four lost out Of thirty-six
games In which he has taken part. giving
him an average of 80 In other words
he has pitched his team to a successful
nnfSh In seven of every eight games he
has taken part in and has also won
nearly one-third OF its total victories.
Already he has to his credit more games
than any other pitcher in either of the
big leagues won last season, with the ex-
ceptfons of Big Jack Coombs of the Ath-
the Phinies, each of whom won twenty
eight games in 1911. Coombs, however
lost twelve and Alexander thirteen. so
their standing for the year was not near
" so good as Woods is now. No one
tmagines that Wood will not better his
average in the remaining thirty games of
the season. In short with fair luck,
Wood is not unlikely to set new big
league record this year.
Only one pitcher in either league fin
ashed the season last year with as good
percentage as Wood has now. That
was Covington Of Detroit, but as he fig
ured in only eight won-and-lost games
II would be hardly fair with Wood to
compare his average with that of the
Detroit man.
made thirty nits in 1O4 times at bat for
have been for two bases, one was a three
bagger and one was home run. He has
four sacrifice hits to his credit, and has
scored eleven runs. In the field he has
made but four errors while making
thirty-two putouts and ninety-one assists.
This gives him fielding average of 1863.
While a first year student at the Uni
versity Of Kansas. he joined the base bali
team representing the town of Hutchin-
son, Kan That was before he was seven
teen years of age but despite his youth
his showing with the Hutchinson team
secured for him offer from the Kan
sas City club of the American Associa-
ton. Base ball was so attractive that
Joe turned from law, at which his father
and brother had both been successful, and
gave his attention to become a base ball
player.