Former Red Sox Pitcher, Cambridge Native And 4-Time MLB Starts Leader Dies

Founded in 1901, the Boston Red Sox organization has been home to a vast number of legendary baseball players.

From Ted Williams to Pedro Martinez, there has been a rich history of star players to don a Red Sox jersey. And the franchise has now heard that a former Major League Baseball star who started his career for his hometown Red Sox has now died.

“Wilbur Wood, the Chicago White Sox knuckleballer who started more games and pitched more innings in a season than any pitcher in the last 100 years, died on Saturday in Burlington, Mass. He was 84,” The Athletic’s Victor Mather reported. “Wood was not just an ironman pitcher, but also an accomplished one, tallying four 20-win seasons.”

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Chicago White Sox Veteran Wilbur Wood Began Career With Hometown Boston Red Sox

Wood is best remembered for his knuckleball and endurance. He enjoyed three All-Star nods with the White Sox and led all of MLB in starts four different times. But he got his opportunity with the Red Sox in 1961. Three years later, after persistent struggles, the franchise was ready to cut ties and he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“A trade from the Red Sox to the Pirates in 1964 at least gave Wood regular bullpen duty during the 1965 season, but after spending the entire 1966 campaign with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A team, he was traded to the White Sox in the move that really unlocked Wood’s career,” Mark Polishuk wrote for MLB Trade Rumors. “Future Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm was a member of that Chicago team, and the veteran took Wood under his wing by teaching him some of the tricks of Wilhelm’s knuckleball.”

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Massachusetts Native Wilbur Wood Returned Home After Legendary MLB Career

The change in approach worked wonders for Wood and he enjoyed a 12-year career with the White Sox, racking up nearly 300 career starts and more than 2,600 career innings. He retired after the 1978 season.

“Wood’s amazing run of durability ended when his kneecap was broken by a line drive off the bat of the (Detroit) Tigers’ Ron LeFlore in May 1976, which ended his season,” Polishuk wrote. “Wood was never the same after the injury, as the southpaw posted a 5.11 ERA over 290 2/3 innings for Chicago in 1977-78. He decided to retire, concluding his career with a 164-156 record, a 3.24 ERA, 6.5% walk rate, and 12.7% strikeout rate over 651 games and 2,684 innings.”

Wood was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and raised in Belmont, Mass. Even after he left the Red Sox, he maintained a home in the state and worked in the Boston area during the offseason. After his retirement, he purchased a fish market in Belmont and became an account manager for a pharmaceutical company.