Smokey Joe

[candy curveball cummings]

Smokey Joe Wood (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=woodjo02) is 11th all-time in Won-Loss % (.672, 117-57). His 2.03 ERA is 4th all-time, his 146 ERA+ is 3rd all-time, and his 1.085 WHIP is 10th all-time.

I think the only reason why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame is because of his short career. He only pitched as a regular for 8 years before switching to the outfield.

Should Smokey Joe be in the Hall of Fame?

[oscargamblesfro]

No, to put it simply: A great pitcher at his peak for sure, but just not enough longevity.

[STLCards2]

The number of seasons are not as important as IP. 1,400 IP from a starter is not enough for Cooperstown.

[KCGHOST]

There just isn't anything resembling a sufficient body of work to put Wood in the HoF. All he has to show is two great years and four good ones as a pitcher.

[wamby]

Talk to some of the guys here about game seven of the 1912 World Series and then see if you still think Wood belongs in the Hall of Fame.

[jalbright]

Talk to some of the guys here about game seven of the 1912 World Series and then see if you still think Wood belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Nobody's saying he wasn't a dominant pitcher for a short period of time. But if we take him, how many others do we have to take? Far too many for my taste, to be sure. Also, by the standard of the above quote, should Don Larsen's perfecto in the World Series be the measure of whether or not he should get in? Lots of pitchers have some days where they catch lightning in a bottle.

Jim Albright

[Brian McKenna]

The better Smokey Joe is already in the Hall.

[leecemark]

--Wood was a pale imitation of the genuine article:D .

[wamby]

Nobody's saying he wasn't a dominant pitcher for a short period of time. But if we take him, how many others do we have to take? Far too many for my taste, to be sure. Also, by the standard of the above quote, should Don Larsen's perfecto in the World Series be the measure of whether or not he should get in? Lots of pitchers have some days where they catch lightning in a bottle.

Jim Albright

Wood is very strongly alledged to have thrown the game that I mentioned.

[ElHalo]

There just isn't anything resembling a sufficient body of work to put Wood in the HoF. All he has to show is two great years and four good ones as a pitcher.

Smokey Joe had four qualifying seasons with an ERA+ over 150. That happens to be the same amount as Sandy Koufax. Are you honestly going to tell me that it was Koufax throwing mediocre ball for six years in his early twenties that puts him in the Hall?

[leecemark]

--Two of those seasons he pitched less than 200 innings, when great pitchers were expected to go 300. Koufax was MUCH more durable and that made him the best pitcher in baseball for 5 years - something Wood wasn't able to achieve even once (although he might have if his one historic season hadn't come in Walter Johnson's best).

[Honus Wagner]

Wood is very strongly alledged to have thrown the game that I mentioned.

hmm, that's hard to believe...there was a scandal with cobb and speaker conspiring to throw a game in 1919, but wood was the star of the 1912 series (3-1)

he was also yale's mananger for 20yrs, with a record of 283-228-1

[wamby]

hmm, that's hard to believe...there was a scandal with cobb and speaker conspiring to throw a game in 1919, but wood was the star of the 1912 series (3-1)

he was also yale's mananger for 20yrs, with a record of 283-228-1

Do a little research on the game he lost. This isn't exactly a new story.

[candy curveball cummings]

The better Smokey Joe is already in the Hall.

Definitely. I agree.

I don't necessarily support Smokey Joe Wood, but with all of the talk of short-career guys on this board, I thought Joe Wood deserved mention.

[Honus Wagner]

Do a little research on the game he lost. This isn't exactly a new story.

cuz he gave up 6 runs in the 1st?...and, i guess you are right, it wouldn't be a new story since the game happened 94 years ago...give me a break

[iPod]

Smokey Joe had four qualifying seasons with an ERA+ over 150. That happens to be the same amount as Sandy Koufax. Are you honestly going to tell me that it was Koufax throwing mediocre ball for six years in his early twenties that puts him in the Hall?

Koufax led his league in ERA all four of those years, Wood only once. Koufax led in wins 3 times, Wood once. Koufax led in innings pitched twice during that 4 year stretch and was 3rd another of those years. Wood was 3rd one year and 5th another. Koufax led his league in strikeouts 3 of those 4 years, and in WHIP 3 of those 4 years, while Wood never led the league in either category.

I've written this before, but for all the talk about how amazing Wood was in 1912, when it came time for the guys who watched the game to sit down and figure out who was the best in the game that year they put Ed Walsh and Walter Johnson ahead of him.

I generally don't like it when posters quote themselves, but I've already said what I'd like to say about Joe Wood's ERA+ in 1912 and don't see a reason to do it again. Here's what I said...

"His ERA+, 180, was historically good, but still only 93rd all time, and isn't something that other pitchers haven't done. Just 2 years earlier, in 1910, Jack Coombs had an ERA+ of 182 and pitched more innings than Smokey Joe did in 1912. Luis Tiant put up an ERA+ of 184 in 1968, threw 258 innings, and didn't even win the Cy Young award. 3 years after that, in 1971, Wilbur Wood tossed up a 188 ERA+ and pitched 334 innings, and he didn't win the Cy Young award either."

[wamby]

cuz he gave up 6 runs in the 1st?...and, i guess you are right, it wouldn't be a new story since the game happened 94 years ago...give me a break

Read about the background of that game.

[Honus Wagner]

some amusing stories involving joe's brother and late night drinking and bad weather and shady ownership and the royal but not loyal rooters and JFK's grandfather...you wrote, "very strongely alleged," which is extreme and implies that there is actual evidence other than speculation

[wamby]

some amusing stories involving joe's brother and late night drinking and bad weather and shady ownership and the royal but not loyal rooters and JFK's grandfather...you wrote, "very strongely alleged," which is extreme and implies that there is actual evidence other than speculation

Do a little research about it.

[Honus Wagner]

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