2008 Woodie Awards
Hot Corner: Life is good when my arm feels fine
Carrie Wood
Sports | 4/24/08
For the last decade of my life, whenever I have been introduced to someone new I have often been asked one question in particular:
"Carrie Wood, huh… how's your arm?"
And for the first time in a long while, I can actually respond to that with "It's fine, thanks."
The coincidence that I'm a huge baseball fan with the same name (different spelling, whatever) as the 1998 Rookie of the Year has been prevalent in my life for quite some time now, but until recently, it's been hard to say much positive about Kerry Wood.
The Cubs pitcher began his big-league career with a bang - in only the fifth start of his career he pitched that legendary (in my mind, anyway) game against the Houston Astros. A 20-strikeout, no walks, one-hit shutout game put Wood on the map as the next big thing.
I was 8 years old at the time and just starting to figure out that hey, boys aren't so bad, and the fact we have homophonic names only drew me to the right-hander more. Pretty soon I was a Cubs fan and I ended up with quite a bit of Kerry Wood-related memorabilia - figures, cards, Beanie Babies, and I even kept a Pepsi can with his profile on it (which I still have to this day).
Unfortunately, Wood's career soon began to decline. He missed the entire 1999 season due to Tommy John surgery and struggled in 2000, going only 8-7. However, my woes for Wood quickly subsided, as in 2001 he came back and posted a 12-6 record. In '03 he took charge and set career highs of 14 wins and 266 strikeouts to help take the Cubs to the National League Championship Series, which the team ultimately lost.
The 2004 season saw Wood's return to the disabled list for a stretch of about two months. He went into surgery in spring training of 2005 for a knee injury, and in 2006 suffered from a strained rotator cuff that prevented his appearance in the starting rotation.
I was heartbroken, to say the least. Every season he got hurt was another person telling me he'd never make it back. Honestly, I had almost given up hope to ever see him play again.
"Carrie Wood, huh… how's your arm?"
And for the first time in a long while, I can actually respond to that with "It's fine, thanks."
The coincidence that I'm a huge baseball fan with the same name (different spelling, whatever) as the 1998 Rookie of the Year has been prevalent in my life for quite some time now, but until recently, it's been hard to say much positive about Kerry Wood.
The Cubs pitcher began his big-league career with a bang - in only the fifth start of his career he pitched that legendary (in my mind, anyway) game against the Houston Astros. A 20-strikeout, no walks, one-hit shutout game put Wood on the map as the next big thing.
I was 8 years old at the time and just starting to figure out that hey, boys aren't so bad, and the fact we have homophonic names only drew me to the right-hander more. Pretty soon I was a Cubs fan and I ended up with quite a bit of Kerry Wood-related memorabilia - figures, cards, Beanie Babies, and I even kept a Pepsi can with his profile on it (which I still have to this day).
Unfortunately, Wood's career soon began to decline. He missed the entire 1999 season due to Tommy John surgery and struggled in 2000, going only 8-7. However, my woes for Wood quickly subsided, as in 2001 he came back and posted a 12-6 record. In '03 he took charge and set career highs of 14 wins and 266 strikeouts to help take the Cubs to the National League Championship Series, which the team ultimately lost.
The 2004 season saw Wood's return to the disabled list for a stretch of about two months. He went into surgery in spring training of 2005 for a knee injury, and in 2006 suffered from a strained rotator cuff that prevented his appearance in the starting rotation.
I was heartbroken, to say the least. Every season he got hurt was another person telling me he'd never make it back. Honestly, I had almost given up hope to ever see him play again.
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