"Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood." Walter Johnson
In 1912, the ace of the Boston Red Sox, Smoky Joe Wood led his team to a World Series victory over John McGraw and the New York Giants. Along with the championship, Joe Wood accomplished in my opinion, the greatest single season a pitcher ever had.
Joe Wood grew up in Ness County, Kansas, just out side of Kansas City, Missouri. Smoky Joe joined the Boston Red Sox in 1908 at the age of 18. Wood had his breakthrough season in 1911 in which he won 23 games, compiled an earned run average of 2.02, threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 batters in a single game and also struck out 23 batters in an exhibition game that season. Wood earned the nickname "Smoky Joe" obviously because of his blazing fastball. Wood once said, "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right of my body."
The season in which Wood will always be remembered though, is his magnificent season of 1912. Wood had a win-loss record of 34-5, an E.R.A. of 1.91 and struck out 258 batters. He also led the American League in shutouts (10) and complete games (35). The accomplishment that really sticks out though, was his tying of Walter Johnson's record of sixteen consecutive victories, which is significant because Wood had to beat Johnson in order to get the record.
On September 6, 1912 with his Red Sox in a pennant race, Wood faced off against Johnson in a pitching duel at newly opened Fenway Park. At the time, Wood had a 14-game winning streak and Johnson had recently had his own 14-game winning streak snapped. The papers of the time hyped the match up like a heavyweight title fight, comparing height, weight, biceps, triceps, arm span, and whatnot. Wood remembered, "Fenway park must have contained twice as many people as its seating capacity that day. I never saw so many people in one place in my life. In fact, the fans were put on the field an hour before the game started, and it was so crowded down there I hardly had room to warm up. The fans were siting practically along the first-base and third-base lines. We were sitting on chairs right up against the foul lines, and the fans were right behind us." Boston Hall of Fame right fielder Harry Hooper said "That was probably the most exciting game I ever played in or saw." 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 a double Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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wn the right-field line. Wood only gave up two hits and with his Red Sox winning the game 1-0, had won his sixteenth straight victory.
Just as exciting a game happened a month later when Wood's Red Sox met the New York Giants in the historic deciding game of the 1912 World Series. After seven close games, one more game was needed because of a tie in game three and now Wood would meet future Hall of Famer Christy Matthewson in the deciding game eight. Smoky Joe matched Matthewson inning after inning with the game going into extra innings. In 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, 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 four games to three. For Wood, the game was his third win in the series against one loss. He also struck out eleven batters in game one, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game.
Sadly, the 1912 season was Wood's last great season. The following year, Wood slipped on wet grass while fielding a bunt from Ty Cobb in a game against the 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 E.R.A., his appearances were limited as he could no longer recover quickly from pitching a game. For all intents and purposes his pitching career was over. Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians in 1917 and rejoined his teammate Tris Speaker there, but only played as a mediocre position player.
Over the years, pitchers throughout the great game of Baseball have had wonderful seasons; such as Bob Gibson in 1967 and 68 and Denny McClain in 1968 and of course Sandy Koufax in 1964. But in my opinion none can compare to the season Smoky Joe Wood had in 1912. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1912, but for only Wood and Tris Speaker did not have that many great players on this team. (as they would later in the decade,1915,16,18.) The players that were on this team did not have great seasons either. Wood carried the pitching staff and the team, the Red Sox would not have won the Pennant if it was not for Smoky Joe. He literally won games by him-self, pitching complete games and driving in the games only run in multiple games in 1912.
In reading this, I hope you the reader can gain a sense of appreciation for the great Smoky Joe Wood and form your own opinion on whether I am correct in believing that this was the greatest season a pitcher has ever had. If you do not agree with my opinion, at least you now know who Joe Wood was and what a great season he had in 1912. Most importantly though, you now know who has the greatest nick-name in Baseball history, Smoky Joe Wood.
