Smoky Joe Wood, Pike County's famous pitcher, remembered

Editor's note: This story was corrected from the original version. BY GINNY PRIVITAR SHOHOLA, PA. — Fans of Smoky Joe Wood think he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His career pitching for the Boston Red Sox was outstanding — but did not meet the hall of fame's requirement that it be outstanding "for a long period of time." In 1912, after pitching his greatest season, Wood slipped on wet grass, broke his thumb, and injured his shoulder. His pitching was never the same. He would later say that his arm “just went bad. I couldn’t raise my arm to pitch.” Over the decades, he "looked on as his former teammates and adversaries, one by one, won induction" into the hall of fame, according to the Baseball Biography Project of the Society for American Baseball Research. But his reputation never faded. In 1984, at age 94, he received a standing ovation during Old Timers’ Day at Fenway Park. In 1985, the president of Yale University A. Bartlett Giamatti, who later became baseball commissioner, presented him with an honorary doctorate in Human Letters. Wood "wept uncontrollably" at the ceremony. Wood died six months later, on July 27, 1985, at a convalescent home in West Haven, Conn. He is buried in his family’s ancestral property in Shohola, Pa. Wood's 14 years in baseball was an extraordinary achievement. In 1911, he won 23 games and set a record, striking out 15 batters in one game. In 1912, he compiled a 34-5 record for the Red Sox and won three World Series games, including a win in the deciding eighth game (one game was a tie). That same year he batted .290, had a 1.91 ERA, and pitched 10 shut-outs. Smoky's grandson Dave Wood remembers a black baseball kept in a shallow vase atop a bookcase at Smoky's house in Shohola. It was the ball Smoky pitched in 1912. Dave's grandfather told him the ball was black from the licorice juice Smoky Joe spat on the ball to make it harder for the batter to see, and to make it tackier and easier to pitch. Dave last saw the black ball in the 1950s. No one knows where it is now. A nomadic early history Jonathan Wood, Smoky’s great-great-great-great grandfather, born in Warwick, N.Y., in 1755, may have served in the colonial militia. He lived, died, and was buried in Greenville, in Orange County, N.Y. , east of Port Jervis. Jonathan married Mary Durland of Chester. Their grandson, Bradner Wood (who is, incidentally, Smoky’s grandfather), is the first known member of the family to settle in Shohola, Pa. But Smoky’s grandson, Dave Wood, disputes this. He has the original 1843 deed listing Bradner Wood as the “Pennsylvania farmer” who purchased 240 acres in Shohola along present-day Woodtown Road, at $2 an acre. Bradner’s son and Joe’s father, John Wood, completed his education in Pennsylvania then moved to Ness City, Kansas. He started his family there before moving again to Kansas City, Missouri, where his son Joe was born. John Wood moved his family around a lot. After Kansas City, the family moved to Chicago, where John became a successful attorney. But he remained restless. In 1898 he set out for the Klondike gold rush, sending his family back to the homestead in Pennsylvania. He returned no richer eight months later. The family moved again in 1900 to Ouray, Colorado, and in 1905 returned to Ness City. From the Bloomers to the big leagues Wood scored his first wins with the Ness City ball club, which beat the all-girls National Bloomer Girls out of Kansas City, 23-2. The Bloomers routinely added boys, some playing in wigs, to augment their strength. After the Ness City victory, Wood was offered $20 a week to join the team for the rest of the summer. He next signed on as an infielder — first with the Cedar Rapids Rabbits, and then with the Western Association Hutchinson White Sox. But his strong arm attracted notice, and he was soon pitching. His fastball caught the attention of George Tebeau, owner of the American Association Kansas City Blues, who bought his contract in 1908. Wood had a mediocre record with the Blues. But a near-perfect no-hitter in Milwaukee attracted Major League interest. The Red Sox purchased Joe's contract. On Aug. 24, 1908, the 18-year-old made his big league debut at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, where Doc White and the Chicago White Sox bested him 6-4. Wood really came into his own in 1911, winning 23 games and losing 17. A 1977 article in the Port Jervis Union Gazette described that year as "merely a warm-up for one of the most spectacular years ever achieved by a pitcher. In the annals of baseball history, 1912 was a year of pitching records.” Fenway Park opened in 1912. Another famous pitcher, Walter Johnson, scored 16 consecutive wins. Wood said later, “Well, everyone knew it would be a good bit of publicity if Walter Johnson pitched against me on my 16th game." Much fanfare attended the match-up. Baseball fans across the country debated the pitchers’ statistics, arm and wrist size, and ability. “On September 6 a circus-like crowd estimated at 35,000 packed every crevice of Fenway Park — filling the stands, outfield and even foul territory along the right and left field foul lines — and cheered wildly with every strike Joe burned across," according to the Baseball Biography Project. Wood won their first duel, 1-0. The fans demanded a rematch, and Johnson won that one. Wood called Johnson the greatest pitcher ever. Johnson later returned the compliment: "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen mister, no man alive can throw any harder than Smoky Joe Wood." Wood went on to win the last two starts of the summer, and the Red Sox went on to the World Series against the New York Giants. Boston sportswriters, grateful to Wood for bringing the series to Boston, gave him a gold watch inscribed with their thanks. Then came his fateful injury. For the next few years, Wood's appearances were limited. He required more time to recover after pitching a game. He sat out the 1916 season and most of 1917. New careers: baseball and otherwise Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians late in 1917. “Well, I didn’t start out to be a pitcher, so I tried the outfield," he said later. "It was funny, my arm didn’t bother me there.” His lifetime batting average was .283, and he would play in another World Series. Wood married Kansas City native Laura O’Shea on Dec. 20, 1913. They had three sons, first Joe Jr., then Stephen and Robert, who both later played collegiate ball at Colgate. They also had a daughter, Virginia. In 1921, Wood batted .365. Like his old Boston teammate, Babe Ruth, he ended his career as an outfielder. He retired from the team in 1922 and became baseball coach at Yale, where he spent the next 20 years. While at Yale he coached his own son Joe Jr., who went on to pitch briefly with the 1944 Red Sox. Yale was considered a powerhouse in baseball during Wood's time as coach. In 1942 Wood left for California, where he opened a golfing range with his brother, Pete. "I made more money in that seven years than I did my entire time playing and coaching baseball," he later recalled with a chuckle, according to the Baseball Biography project. Retirement and honors Wood returned to New Haven to settle into retirement. Throughout most of his life, he divided his time between New Haven in winter and Shohola in summer. In the late 1950s he refurbished the old family homestead in Shohola and moved in. The homestead was destroyed by fire in 1991, when he was first married, still exists on Woodtown Road, near Parker’s Glen Brook. He put a pool table in the basement. "If (granddad) hadn’t gone into baseball, he would have been a world-class billiards player," his grandson Dave said. Wood often brought baseball players to Shohola during the hunting season, including his best friend, Tris Speaker, who played with him on the Rex Sox and the Indians. They told stories, played ball on Woodtown Road, and tossed back a few at Rohman’s Inn, which also claims Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as guests. In 1981, baseball historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included Smoky Joe Wood in their book "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time." Ritter had earlier interviewed him for his widely acclaimed book "The Glory of their Times" (1966). Dave Wood’s cousin, Jerry Wood, is writing a book about his illustrious relative. The book is expected out at the end of 2012 — 100 years after the championship season that continues to fascinate.