Knock On Wood

Growing up, I of course had never seen a pitcher throw a knuckle ball, but I had an old copy of Sport magazine, and it had an article authored by Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox, with an explanation of the grip, the arm movements and the nuances of throwing this pitch.

When Wilbur Wood made the major leagues, his signature was a knuckleball that left hitters shaking their heads as they walked back to the dugout. Wood's signature since leaving baseball in 1978 has been, well, his signature. "They say to me, 'Are you Wilbur Wood the ballplayer?' “says Wood, 60, of the doctors he schmoozes in his current job as a pharmaceutical salesman for Carolina Medical in suburban Boston.”Then they want an autographed picture. I wait a couple of days and bring it to their office. And I'm back in the door again."

As a 17-year major league veteran, Wood knows a thing or two about making a pitch. A knuckleballer from the start, the lefthanded Wood took awhile to hone his craft. Signed in 1960 by his hometown Red Sox, he spent 3 seasons working out of the bullpen for Boston and another 1 with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being traded to the Chicago White Sox, with whom he came under the tutelage of knuckleball master Hoyt Wilhelm.
His knuckler nuanced, Wood continued as a reliever, leading the American League in games for three consecutive years (1968-70) before earning a starter's role. He won 164 games in his career, including 20 or more in each season from 1971 through '74. In each of those years he pitched more than 300 innings, and in '72 and '73 he led the league with 24 wins. In May 1976 a line drive off the bat of theDetropit Tigers' Ron LeFlore shattered his left kneecap, and led to two operations and countless hours of rehabilitation. "I was a little gun-shy," says Wood of his return the next season, when he went 7-8 in 123 innings. "I didn't want the ball coming back over the middle again."
After a mediocre 1978 season, Wood retired from baseball. He headed home and spent the next year fishing, which led to his buying Meister's Seafood, a Belmont, Mass market. After five years of doing everything from filleting salmon to sweeping floors, he sold the business and set out to establish his next career. Says Wood, "Being a ballplayer or being a salesperson, you have to sell yourself."
Wood sold a friend on giving him a chance in pharmaceutical sales, and he proved a natural.

"Today," says Wood, "a lot of managers don't like a trick pitcher."
It seems safe to say, though, that in any era, Wood would have made his mark.

Tim Wakefield now carries the tradition for the Red Sox.

Wilbur is still with us, teaching kids who asked him how to grip the ball, but most do not have the hand size, or finger nails sufficient, but Wood is still able to impart his wisdom, knock on wood.

Tonite, his Sox face the Phenom, no trick pitches from Strasburg.