57-603: Joe Wood may refer to: Smoky Joe Wood (1889–1985), American baseball player Joe T. Wood (1922–2019), American politician Joe Wood (infielder) (1919–1985), American baseball player Joe Wood (1944 pitcher) (1916–2002), American baseball player Joe Wood (footballer) (1904–1972), Australian footballer for North Melbourne Joe Wood (musician) (fl. c. 1980), singer among band T.S.O.L.'s second complement of musicians See also [ edit ] Joseph Wood (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
114-466: A bunt in a game against the Detroit Tigers . He fell and broke his thumb, and pitched in pain for the following three seasons. Although he maintained a winning record and a low ERA, his appearances were limited, as he could no longer recover quickly from pitching a game. Wood sat out the 1916 season and most of the 1917 season, and for all intents and purposes ended his pitching career. Late in
171-692: A manager in the minor leagues , managing the Newark Bears of the International League . He continued on to the major leagues, managing the Washington Senators ( 1929 – 1932 ), and finally the Cleveland Indians ( 1933 – 1935 ). His managing record was 529–432, with his best team managed being in 1930 , when the team finished 94–60, 8 games out of first place. In seven seasons, he had five winning seasons, with
228-453: A no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 batters in a single game. Wood once struck out 23 batters in an exhibition game. He earned the nickname "Smoky Joe" because of his blazing fastball . Wood recounted in the seminal 1966 book The Glory of Their Times , "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right off my body." His peers concurred. A story that gained common parlance
285-439: A 300+ inning pitcher. It could have been lower if not for one of manager Clark Griffith 's traditions. For the last game of the season, Griffith often treated the fans to a farce game. Johnson actually played center field that game until he was brought in to pitch. He allowed two hits before he was taken out of the game. The next pitcher—who was actually a career catcher—allowed both runners to score. The official scorekeeper ignored
342-525: A double down the right-field line. Meanwhile, Wood gave up only two hits and no runs, and the Red Sox prevailed, 1–0. Equally compelling in drama, Wood's Red Sox faced John McGraw 's New York Giants in the 1912 World Series . After slugging it out in seven close games, the teams met for the deciding game eight at Fenway with future Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson starting for the Giants. After Boston tied
399-556: A guest on the Bill Stern's The Colgate Sports Newsreel radio program in 1950, told the story Wood was posing as a girl on a girls' team when the Red Sox signed him. The story ended, "The pitcher I'm talking about was the immortal Smoky Joe Wood. A pitcher who can never be forgotten even though he did get his start posing as a girl". After joining the Red Sox in 1908 at 18, Wood had his breakthrough season in 1911 in which he won 23 games, compiled an earned run average of 2.02, threw
456-432: A record of 283–228–1 over 18 seasons. While at Yale, he coached his son Joe , who pitched briefly for the 1944 Red Sox. Decades later, in 1981, Wood was present at an historic pitcher's duel between Yale and St. John's University , featuring future major leaguers (and teammates) Ron Darling and Frank Viola . Darling threw 11 no-hit innings for Yale, matched by Viola's 11 shutout innings for St. John's. Wood, sitting in
513-493: A right-handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals/Senators , Walter Johnson won 417 games, the second most by any pitcher in history (after Cy Young , who won 511). He and Young are the only pitchers to have won 400 games. In a 21-year career, Johnson had twelve 20-win seasons, including ten in a row. Twice, he topped 30 wins (33 in 1912 and 36 in 1913 ). Johnson's record includes 110 shutouts,
570-630: A rural farm four miles west of Humboldt , Kansas on November 6, 1887. Although he was sometimes said to be of Swedish ancestry and referred to by sportswriters as "the Big Swede", Johnson's ancestors came from the British Isles. Soon after he reached his fourteenth birthday, his family moved to California's Orange County in 1902. The Johnsons settled in the town of Olinda , a small oil boomtown located just east of Brea . In his youth, Johnson split his time among playing baseball, working in
627-442: A speed 6.1 miles per hour (9.8 km/h) faster than anyone measured with the photo-electric system (used occasionally in the 1910s through 1930s), but Wood when tested in 1917 had already suffered a career-changing injury. Wood's best season was in 1912, when he had an ERA of 1.91, 258 strikeouts, a record of 34 wins and only 5 losses. Only 21 times since 1900 have pitchers won 30 or more games, with Wood's 34 victories ranking as
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#1732800795679684-604: A thing, Johnson did prove that it could be done. A lifelong Republican and friend of President Calvin Coolidge , Johnson was elected as a Montgomery County commissioner in 1938. His father-in-law was Rep. Edwin Roberts , a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives . In 1940 Johnson ran for a congressional seat in Maryland's 6th district, but came up short against the incumbent Democrat, William D. Byron , by
741-583: A time. — Ogden Nash , Sport magazine (January 1949) Note : Official MLB statistics show 3,508 career strikeouts, with 70 in his first season ( 1907 ) while statistics at websites such as ESPN , Baseball-Reference , and the official site of the Baseball Hall of Fame (see "External Links", below) all show 3,509 career strikeouts, with 71 in his first season. This has resulted in minor differences seen in references to Johnson's record when reading media and Misplaced Pages articles of other pitchers in
798-591: A total of 60,037 (53%) to 52,258 (47%). Joseph W. Martin Jr. , before he was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1947–1949 and 1953–1955), recruited Johnson to run for Congress. "He was an utterly inexperienced speaker," Martin later said. "I got some of my boys to write two master speeches for him—one for the farmers of his district and the other for the industrial areas. Alas, he got
855-890: A traffic ticket when a teammate in the car told the policeman Johnson was Barney Oldfield). In 1999 , The Sporting News ranked Johnson number 4 on its list of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players, the highest-ranked pitcher. Later that year, he was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team . In 2020, The Athletic ranked Johnson at number 7 on its "Baseball 100" list, compiled by sportswriter Joe Posnanski . In 2022, as part of their SN Rushmore project, The Sporting News named Johnson on their "Washington, D.C. Mount Rushmore of Sports", along with Washington Capitals hockey player Alexander Ovechkin , Washington Redskins football player Darrell Green , and Washington Bullets basketball player Wes Unseld . In 1985, Jonathan Richman recorded
912-480: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Smoky Joe Wood Howard Ellsworth " Smoky Joe " Wood (October 25, 1889 – July 27, 1985) was an American professional baseball player for 14 years. He played for the Boston Red Sox from 1908 to 1915, where he was primarily a pitcher , and for the Cleveland Indians from 1917 to 1922, where he
969-700: Is equal to 91 miles per hour (146 km/h), a velocity that may have been unmatched in his day, with the possible exception of Smoky Joe Wood . Johnson, moreover, pitched with a sidearm motion, whereas power pitchers are usually known for pitching with a straight overhand delivery. Johnson's motion was especially difficult for right-handed batters to follow, as the ball seemed to be coming from third base. His pitching mechanics were superb, generating powerful rotation of his shoulders with excellent balance. In addition to his fastball, Johnson featured an occasional curveball that he developed around 1913 or 1914. He batted and threw right-handed. The overpowering fastball
1026-474: The 1920 World Series . Wood finished his major league career after the 1922 season with a pitching record of 117–57 and an ERA of 2.03. His lifetime batting average was .283. In his final season with the Indians, he had his highest hit total for a season with 150, and also set a personal mark for RBI with 92. Wood went on to become head baseball coach at Yale University from 1924 to 1941, where he compiled
1083-404: The 2015 MLB All-Star Game . Johnson's gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship, while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition. This attribute worked to Johnson's disadvantage in the case of fellow Hall of Famer Ty Cobb . Virtually all batters were concerned about being hit by Johnson's fastball, and many would not "dig in" at
1140-512: The American League Most Valuable Player Award (1913, 1924), a feat accomplished since by only two other pitchers, Carl Hubbell in 1933 and 1936 and Hal Newhouser in 1944 and 1945 . His earned run average of 1.14 in 1913 was the fourth-lowest ever at the time he recorded it; it remains the sixth-lowest today, despite having been surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968 (1.12) for lowest ERA ever by
1197-509: The Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us.... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty, with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance.... One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing, and we hollered at Cantillon: 'Get the pitchfork ready, Joe—your hayseed's on his way back to
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#17328007956791254-543: The Washington Senators in July 1907 at the age of 19. Johnson was renowned as the premier power pitcher of his era. Ty Cobb recalled his first encounter with the rookie fastballer: On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of
1311-601: The outfield during his career. He hit over .200 in 13 of his 21 seasons, hit three home runs in 1914, and hit 12 doubles and a triple in 130 at-bats in 1917. Johnson finished his career with 23 home runs as a pitcher (24 overall, including a pinch-hit home run in 1925), the tenth-highest total for a pitcher in Major League history . Johnson had a reputation as a kindly person, and made many friends in baseball. As reported in The Glory of Their Times , Sam Crawford
1368-572: The "Five Immortals" because they were the first players chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Walter Johnson retired to Germantown , Maryland. On February 19, 1936, George Washington 's 204th birthday, as a retired baseball legend Johnson gained national publicity. He replicated a feat attributed to Washington by throwing a silver dollar across the Rappahannock River . Though it remained in dispute whether Washington ever did such
1425-442: The "Snodgrass Muff" cost the Giants as Speaker and Larry Gardner each knocked in a run to overcome the 1-run deficit. Wood and the Red Sox won the game 3–2 and the series 4–3–1. For Wood, the game was his third win in the series against one loss. He also struck out 11 batters in one game, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game. The following year, Wood slipped on wet grass while fielding
1482-491: The 1917 season, Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians, where he rejoined former teammate Tris Speaker . Always proficient with the bat, Wood embarked on a second career as an outfielder . His former Boston teammate Babe Ruth would make a similar position change a season later in 1919. Early in the 1918 season, Wood was struggling to establish himself as a regular player. But in a 19-inning game on May 24 against
1539-483: The American League in both 1912 and 1913 , which were Johnson's two 30-win seasons. Then, for the next decade, they typically finished in the middle of the pack before their back-to-back pennants. Johnson was a good hitter for a pitcher, compiling a career batting average of .235, including a record .433 average in 1925. His 547 career hits are the most by a full-time pitcher. He also made 13 appearances in
1596-742: The Big Train ", was an American professional baseball player and manager . He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators from 1907 to 1927 . He later served as manager of the Senators from 1929 through 1932 and of the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through 1935. Generally regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Johnson established several records, some of which remain unbroken nine decades after he retired from baseball. He remains by far
1653-404: The Red Sox to move Wood up in the rotation, so Wood could oppose Johnson. The papers of the time hyped the matchup like a heavyweight prizefight, and a standing-room-only crowd of 29,000 packed the park that day. Johnson and Wood dueled to a scoreless tie through five innings, when with two outs in the sixth, Boston's Tris Speaker doubled to left on a 1–2 count and Duffy Lewis knocked him in with
1710-699: The Yankees at the Polo Grounds, Wood hit two home runs, including the eventual game-winner in the 19th, and in Wood's words, "the worst was finally over." Establishing himself as a solid player, Wood finished in the top 10 in the American League in runs batted in in two seasons (1918 and 1922), and in 1918 he also finished in the top ten in home runs , doubles , batting average and total bases . Wood pitched seven more times, all but one game in relief, winning none and losing one. He also appeared in four games in
1767-450: The all-time career leader in shutouts with 110, second in wins with 417, and fourth in complete games with 531. He held the career record in strikeouts from 1919, when he passed Christy Mathewson ’s mark of 2,507, until the 1983 season, when three players ( Steve Carlton , Nolan Ryan and Gaylord Perry ) finally passed his career total of 3,508. Johnson became the only pitcher to record 3,000 strikeouts on July 22, 1923, and remained
Joe Wood - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-498: The all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. Wood was also interviewed for Ritter's famous 1966 book The Glory of Their Times . In 1984, Wood received a standing ovation on Old Timers Day at Fenway Park in Boston, some 72 years after his memorable season. Aged 94, he said he was happy that Boston remembered him as "Smoky". On January 3, 1985, Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti presented Joe Wood with
1881-486: The anthology Game Time: A Baseball Companion. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time . They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome", where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with
1938-399: The barn.' ... The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him.... Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park. In 1917, a Bridgeport , Connecticut, munitions laboratory recorded Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which
1995-417: The club was granted. Johnson's Hall of Fame plaque reads that he pitched "for many years with a losing team." While the Senators had only nine winning seasons during his career, they finished in the first division (i. e., fourth place or higher) 11 times, and the second division 10 times. In Johnson's first five seasons, Washington finished last twice and next-to-last three times. But they finished second in
2052-472: The first and fifth games of the 1924 World Series, but became the hero by pitching four scoreless innings of relief in the seventh and deciding game, winning in the 12th inning. Washington returned to the World Series the following season, but Johnson's experience was close to the inverse: two early wins, followed by a game seven loss. On October 15, 1927, Johnson's request for an unconditional release from
2109-459: The game, but later, Johnson was charged with those two runs, raising his ERA from 1.09 to 1.14. For the decade from 1910 to 1919, Johnson averaged 26 wins per season and had an overall ERA of 1.59. Johnson won 36 games in 1913, 40% of the team's total wins for the season. In April and May, he pitched 55.2 consecutive scoreless innings , still the American League record and the third-longest streak in history. He won 25 games and lost 20 games in 1916,
2166-614: The honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Wood, who was 95 years old, was given this honor in his home close to the Yale ball field. Joe Wood is the first big league player to be given an honorary degree by Yale University. He and Cole Porter are the only two men so honored outside of a traditional Yale commencement. Wood died in West Haven, Connecticut on July 27, 1985. He was buried in Shohola Township, Pennsylvania . He
2223-473: The last pitcher to win and lose 20 in a season until knuckleballer Wilbur Wood did so in 1973. In May 1918, Johnson pitched 40 consecutive scoreless innings; he is the only pitcher with two such 40+ inning streaks. Although he often pitched for losing teams during his career, Johnson finally led the Washington Senators to the World Series in 1924, his 18th year in the American League. Johnson lost
2280-500: The most in baseball history. Johnson had a 38–26 record in games decided by a 1–0 score; both his wins and losses in these games are major league records. Johnson also lost 65 games because his teams failed to score a run. On September 4, 5 and 7, 1908 , he shut out the New York Highlanders in three consecutive games. Three times, Johnson won the triple crown for pitchers (1913, 1918 and 1924 ). Johnson twice won
2337-535: The nearby oil fields , and going horseback riding . Johnson later attended Fullerton Union High School where he struck out 27 batters during a 15-inning game against Santa Ana High School . He later moved to Idaho , where he doubled as a telephone company employee and a pitcher for a team in Weiser, Idaho , of the Idaho State League. Johnson was spotted by a talent scout and signed a contract with
Joe Wood - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-514: The only one until Bob Gibson matched the feat on July 17, 1974. Of the 19 members of the 3,000-strikeout club , he pitched the most innings and has the lowest strikeouts per nine innings pitched (5.34 K/9). Johnson led the league in strikeouts in the Major League for a record 12 times—one more than current leader Nolan Ryan —including a record eight straight seasons. He is the only pitcher in Major League history to record more than 400 wins and strike out more than 3,500 batters. In 1936 , Johnson
2451-484: The only two losing seasons being at the beginning of his tenure with Washington and Cleveland, though his teams did not come close to winning the pennant, finishing 12 games behind in his last season. Johnson also served as a radio announcer on station WJSV for the Senators during the 1939 season . Johnson was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 . Johnson, Ty Cobb , Christy Mathewson , Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner were known as
2508-562: The pitcher's children gifts when he visited the family. At 11:40 pm on Tuesday, December 10, 1946, Johnson died of a brain tumor in Washington, D.C., five weeks after his 59th birthday, and was interred at Rockville Cemetery in Rockville , Maryland . He was also called "Sir Walter", "the White Knight", and "The Gentle Johnson" for his gentlemanly sportsmanship, and "Barney" after auto racer Barney Oldfield (he got out of
2565-446: The plate because of that concern. Cobb realized that the good-hearted Johnson was privately nervous about the possibility of seriously injuring a batter. Almost alone among his peers, Cobb would actually stand closer to the plate than usual when facing Johnson. Johnson is mentioned in the poem " Line-Up for Yesterday " by Ogden Nash : J is for Johnson The Big Train in his prime Was so fast he could throw Three strikes at
2622-401: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Wood&oldid=980335953 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
2679-411: The score 1–1 in the bottom of the seventh, Wood came in to pitch. He matched Mathewson in the eighth and ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Fred Merkle got to Wood knocking in a run with a single. But in the bottom of the tenth, Clyde Engle , pinch-hitting for Wood, hit an easy fly ball to Fred Snodgrass in center field, and Snodgrass dropped the ball. Given new life,
2736-490: The sixth-highest total. He also tied Walter Johnson's record for consecutive victories with 16. During the 1912 season, Wood had a 13-game winning streak and Johnson had his own American League record 16-game winning streak snapped. On September 6, 1912, Wood faced off against Johnson in a pitching duel at Fenway Park . Originally, Wood was not scheduled to pitch that day, but the Washington Senators challenged
2793-470: The song "Walter Johnson", which dwelt on Johnson's personality and behaviour as an exemplar of what can be good in sport. In 2015, he along with Nap Lajoie , Christy Mathewson and Cy Young were named the "Greatest Pioneers Group." They were voted for by baseball fans online as part of the Franchise Four competition and were "selected as the most impactful players". The results were announced at
2850-666: The stands, recalled Ty Cobb and said, "A lot of fellows in my time shortened up on the bat when they had to – that's what the St. John's boys should try against this good pitcher." Darling lost the no-hitter and the game in the 12th, and Wood called it the best baseball game he had ever seen. The account was recorded in Roger Angell 's New Yorker (July 20, 1981) article "The Web of the Game", in Angell's 1982 book Late Innings , and, later, in
2907-470: The two confused. He addressed the farmers on industrial problems, and the businessmen on farm problems." Walter married Hazel Lee Roberts on June 24, 1914, and they had five children. Johnson's eldest daughter died from influenza in 1921. His wife died in August 1930 from complications resulting from heat stroke after a long motorcar ride from Kansas. Ty Cobb was a good friend of Johnson, often bringing
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#17328007956792964-469: Was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members. His gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship, while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition. Walter Johnson was the second of six children (Effie, Leslie, Earl, Blanche) born to Frank Edwin Johnson (1861–1921) and Minnie Olive Perry (1867–1967) on
3021-426: Was one of Johnson's good friends, and sometimes in non-critical situations, Johnson would ease up so Crawford would hit well against him. This would vex Crawford's teammate Ty Cobb , who could not understand how Crawford could hit the great Johnson so well. Johnson was also friendly with Babe Ruth , despite Ruth's having hit some of his longest home runs off him at Griffith Stadium . In 1928 , he began his career as
3078-537: Was primarily an outfielder . Wood is one of only 13 pitchers to win 30 or more games in one season (going 34–5 in 1912) since 1900. Wood played his first amateur baseball for a local minor league team in Ouray, Colorado . He made his debut with the mostly-female "Bloomer Girls." There were many such teams across the country, which barnstormed in exhibition games against teams of men. Bloomer Girl rosters featured at least one male player. Red Sox star Ted Williams , as
3135-516: Was that legendary fastballer and pitching contemporary Walter Johnson once said, "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood!" Reminded of Johnson's supposed assessment 60 years later, Wood said, "Oh, I don't think there was ever anybody faster than Walter." Johnson, whether being as usual self-effacing or literal, did say Wood could throw as hard as he could for two or three innings, but his delivery put much strain on his arm. Johnson had
3192-882: Was the last surviving member of the 1912 World Champion Boston Red Sox. In 1995, he was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame . On August 27, 2005, the Society for American Baseball Research 's Connecticut Chapter named itself the Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood SABR Chapter. In 2013, Gerald C. Wood's biography, Smoky Joe Wood: The Biography of a Baseball Legend , was published by the University of Nebraska Press. Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach. Walter Johnson As manager Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed " Barney " and "
3249-732: Was the primary reason for Johnson's exceptional statistics, especially his fabled strikeout totals. Johnson's record total of 3,508 strikeouts stood for more than 55 years until Nolan Ryan , Steve Carlton , and Gaylord Perry all surpassed it in that order during the 1983 season . Johnson, as of 2023, ranks ninth on the all-time strikeout list, but his total must be understood in its proper context of an era of much fewer strikeouts. Among his pre–World War II contemporaries, only two men finished within 1,000 strikeouts of Johnson: runner-up Cy Young with 2,803 (705 strikeouts behind) and Tim Keefe at 2,562 (946 behind). Bob Feller , whose war -shortened career began in 1936 , later ended up with 2,581. As
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