Wilbur Wood, the legendary Chicago White Sox knuckleballer who redefined endurance on the mound, passed away Saturday in Burlington, Massachusetts. He was 84.
Wood wasn’t just a pitcher-he was a workhorse, a throwback to an era when starters didn’t just take the ball every fifth day-they practically lived on the mound. His wife, Janet, confirmed his passing at a local hospital.
What made Wood unique wasn’t just his numbers-though those alone are staggering-it was how he got there. As a left-handed knuckleballer, he didn’t rely on velocity to overpower hitters. Instead, he floated that unpredictable pitch with surgical consistency, allowing him to log innings at a clip that feels almost mythical by today’s standards.
And log innings he did.
Wood led the American League in innings pitched twice and in games started four times. His 1972 season stands as one of the most jaw-dropping displays of durability in modern baseball history.
That year, he threw 376⅔ innings and started 49 games-numbers that haven’t been touched in over half a century. To put that into perspective, those marks haven’t been matched since 1917 and 1908, respectively.
In today’s game, where pitch counts and load management reign supreme, even the most durable arms rarely eclipse 230 innings or make more than 35 starts in a season. Wood’s workload wasn’t just heavy-it was historic.
But he wasn’t just logging innings for the sake of it. Wood was a key figure for the White Sox throughout the early 1970s, giving his team a chance to win nearly every time he took the mound. His ability to bounce back quickly from start to start made him a manager’s dream and a nightmare for opponents who couldn’t quite figure out how to hit a pitch that danced its way to the plate.
Wilbur Wood’s legacy isn’t just about the numbers-though his place in the record books is secure. It’s about a different brand of baseball, one where toughness, resilience, and a fluttering knuckleball could carry a pitcher through nearly 400 innings in a single season. That kind of durability feels almost impossible today-and that’s exactly what makes Wood’s career so unforgettable.