Kerry Wood’s Retirement

This is not an article designed for baseball fans.  If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read a hundred articles about Kerry Wood.  You’ve watched the replay, rubbed away the goose bumps on your arms, and maybe even dabbed your eyes when Wood hugged his son.  No, this article isn’t for you.  It’s for you to pass on to those who don’t understand baseball.  It’s a piece for you to hand over to your spouse, to your co-worker, to your football loving friend.  This is a piece for those who simply can’t grasp all that is wonderful about America’s Pastime.  

At first glance, you might think you accidentally switched to any other Cubs broadcast on WGN (and who doesn’t have WGN on their Cable or Satellite package these days?).  You may have paused for a moment because you had heard so much from your baseball-loving friend about Wrigley Field, this shrine to great baseball parks in history as he told you.  Maybe you stayed on the channel long enough to see Kerry Wood enter the game.  His high socks, blonde facial hair, and intensity caught your attention.  ‘OK, I’ll check this out for a minute,’ you may have thought, not sure what you were really seeing.

You would have noticed an intense roar from the Wrigley Faithful as Wood jogged out to the pitcher’s mound.  You probably couldn’t understand it though.  The Cubs were losing.  What the heck were these people cheering about?  Perhaps, in a moment of humor, you thought you’d surprise your buddy at work with your knowledge of this Cubs pitcher.  Maybe as he tossed his warm-up pitches (something you can’t understand because you’ve seen these guys throw a ton of pitches in the bullpen before coming into the game), you pulled up Wood’s Wikipedia page.

As the batter stepped into the box, you may have glanced through Kerry Wood’s history.  He struck out 20 batters in a game, impressive even for someone like you who barely understands the game.  He seemed to help the Cubs quite a bit and was very good at what he did.  Then you might notice the string of injuries.  Maybe at this point you stop reading the Wikipedia page and watch the game.  You could be taking mental notes to fire off quotes and comments about the action to your baseball-loving friend.

As you watch Wood fire off pitch after pitch, you might think there’s nothing special here.  He looks like any other lanky baseball player who couldn’t cut it on the bone-crushing football fields you’re used to.  You watch as Wood strikes out the batter, some guy you never heard of – Dayan Viciedo.  Then, he comes out of the game.  At this point, you’re probably wondering why in the world would the Cubs have someone pitch to just one batter?  You’re probably thinking, why are these fans cheering so loudly?  Who is that little boy?

And by this point, it’s too late for you to understand.  It’s too late for you to appreciate the fact that a man knowing he had been given more second chances than anyone should ever get was walking away on top.  You would have had to have been a fan all along to understand the awe-inspiring strikeout that ended Kerry Wood’s career.  By this point in your life, you missed an entire career, an entire story, and you also missed a story that could not be replicated by any sport or any other moment in life.

When Kerry Wood struck out Viciedo, he did more than earn an out.  He did more than earn another K.  Kerry Wood capped off an incredible career that started with a strikeout and ended with a strikeout.  The moment is a story that is unique to baseball.  There are touching moments in other sports, and there are celebrations of careers in almost every profession.  But there was nothing like this.  As Wood left the field, the fans were celebrating Wood’s accomplishments, his dedication and willingness to keep trying after so many injuries, and they were celebrating just how great Kerry Wood was.  The story here isn’t what Wood could have been.  It’s what he is, what he was, and what he means to the north side of Chicago.

In an instant classic memory, Wood’s son came rushing out of the dugout to greet his dad.  A boy and his dad sharing in a baseball memory is something we can all understand – fan or not.  What many may not understand is that it was not just a memory between father and son.  It was a memory shared by millions.

So you ask yourself, why is baseball so great?  Why should I care when the games drag on three hours, the scores are often not high enough to excite me, and the rules are just too damn confusing?

This moment is why.  This snapshot frozen in time is the reason everyone should watch the game of baseball and love the game of baseball.  It’s art, it’s poetry, it’s music, and it’s dance.  It’s everything old, new, and progressive.  It’s the realization that sometimes, every so often, you can see something bigger than the game itself.

Today, in Chicago, one of those moments happened.  But you didn’t see it.