The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-02
THEY PLAYED THE GAME
Wood Was One Of Top Pitchers,
Stor at Second and in OutfieId;
He Couldn't Throw Straight Ball
CTihtry-third of a series
BY HARRY GRAYSON
NEA SportS Editor

VNGh 0PUA VI EuAtUkJ
Popular story on Joseph Wood is
that a Kansas wind blew the IA
nous all-around star into profess
sional baseball. The yarn has q
team of Bloomer Girls playing a
town team. The gals was not
strong enough to blow away the
smoke that enveloped the ball
thrown by the beautiful young wo-
man on the slab, however, and
the townies struck out with dis
graceful regularity.
The yarn goes that enthusiastic
local sports risked considerable
sums that the record of the vii
layers would remain untarnished
the short end of whihc wagerS were
taken by the manager of the girls
team.
Imagine the excitement when
during the last half of the eighth
inning, with the score 60 in favor
of the Amazons - four of the runs
having been scored or batted in
by the pitcher-a gust playfully car
ried away the cap of the pitcher
and "her" lovely blond wig.
The closing chapter has all rec
ords for running the distance tc
the railroad station being irrepa-
ably shattered, and it is related
that shortly thereafter mere boy
in a Hutchinson uniform was set
ting down the best hitter in the
Western Association with h e
same ease as the Bloomer Girls
hurler had treated the Kansas farm
ers. They caller him Little Joe
Wood.
PECULIAR TWIST OF WRIST
At his peak, Wood stood six
feet, weighed 100 pounds, but was
so sammetrically built that they
called him Little Joe until his
blazing speed earned him the ap-
pellation, Smoky Joe, in 1912
when he powdered the Boston Red
Sox to three World Series victories
over the New York Giants after
bagging "a while dropping nc
more than 5 for a winning percent
age of 1872, the highest in the
majors until 81, when Robert Moses
Grove copied 81 while losing only a
for the Philadelphia Athletics.
Wood actually made the ball
look like a pea. He threw a heavy
ball and a peculiar twist OF the
wrist made it impossible for him
to throw it straight. To This
twist of the wrist easily could be
traced his comparatively short
life as a pitcher. Because OF 1t
and his binding swiftness, his curve
exploded like a giant cracker, broke
like ball rolling off the end of
the table.
He had excellent control and
knew all the tricks, when to hitch
his belt, etc.
IT rate the Wood of 1912 with the
five top pitchers of all time" says
Andy Coakley, the old mound lu-
minary who has been coaching Col
umbia for 30 years.
"Once while his arm was being
treated in New York, he worked out
with my boys indoors. couldn't
catch him when he was throwing
easy. The ball jumped all over the
place"
Wood established an American
League record for consecutive VIC
tories in 1912-16-Which he still
shares with Walter johnson and
Schoolboy Rowe. He struck out Is
st. Louis Browns, July 7, 1911, and
turned n a no-hit, no-run game
against them % days later.
SPOKE KNEW HE COULD HIT
Wood was not yet 10 when he first
showed up with the Red Sox in '08
only % when he had his tremend-
Gus year in ~. He won II and lost
with an earned run average of 237
in 'O9; won IL, but dropped 10, de-
spite a remarkable earned run mark
of 81 in 10, and while he won % in
IL he was charged with II reverses
despite an earned run average Of
an even ZOO
While Wood won IL and lost S.,
had records of and and Is and
S, and an earned run mark of 149
in is. he spent the better part of
the five seasons following his big
year trying to put the breath of life
back into a dead arm. Illness kept
him out altogether in '16.
Tristram Speaker, who so greatly
admired Wood in Boston, hoped
that one of the finest arms ha had
ever seen would mend when Cleve-
land paid $4,000 for Wood in 1917,
but Spoke also knew the Indians
had insurance in the way of the
Kansas City products other capabil-
tiles.
Speaker realized that Wood was a
natural athlete who could play