Wilbur Wood R.I.P...

[Lip Man 1]

One of the best and a part of three noteworthy White Sox teams. The 1967, 1972 and 1977 groups.

A record setting relief pitcher before he became a record setting starter.

Had the chance to interview him in 2005. Very nice guy. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/18/wilbur-wood-chicago-white-sox-obit/

 

[WestEddy]

My first childhood baseball idol. That is really sad. 

[DoUEvenShift]

RIP

[Timmy U]

That’s sad. He started like half the games one year in my childhood. An all-time Sox great. RIP

[kba]

18 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

That’s sad. He started like half the games one year in my childhood. An all-time Sox great. RIP

1n 1972, he started 49 games in a strike-shortened 154 game season. 

[BamaDoc]

A hero of my childhood. RIP

[The Mighty Mite]

An all time Sox favorite of mine, great knuckleball pitcher and a true workhorse throwing over 320 innings for 4 consecutive years and coming close in a 5th with 291 innings.

[Melton1972]

Sorry to hear this. Herrmann,Melton,Allen and now Wilbur Wood all passed. They were all heroes to me as a young White Sox fan. May they all rest in peace.

[WBWSF]

I  always found it odd that JRs ownership basically had nothing to do with Wilbur Wood. To the best of my knowledge he was never even invited back to Soxfest or any doings at the ballpark. If the White Sox ever have a Team Hall of Fame  (like other teams have)  Wood will be a White Sox Hall of Famer.

Edited Monday at 03:37 AM by WBWSF

[Lip Man 1]

41 minutes ago, WBWSF said:

I  always found it odd that JRs ownership basically had nothing to do with Wilbur Wood. To the best of my knowledge he was never even invited back to Soxfest or any doings at the ballpark. If the White Sox ever have a Team Hall of Fame  (like other teams have)  Wood will be a White Sox Hall of Famer.

For many years the Sox had a Hall of Fame located in the stadium I think it was by the home plate area, perhaps someone can correct me on this.

I know when the stadium renovations took place it was removed. I don't know what became of it. 

[GreenSox]

Didn't become a starter until Johnny Sain moved him to the rotation in 1971 at the age of 29....11.7 bWAR for his efforts. 10.7 in 1972.   But a liner to the knee effectively ended his career and HOF chances (although he should have had some HOF mention).
Great Sox!

May he rest in peace.
 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

4 hours ago, Timmy U said:

That’s sad. He started like half the games one year in my childhood. An all-time Sox great. RIP

Wilbur Wood was amazing. Will never see the likes of him again RIP Wilbur Wood. 🙏

[WestEddy]

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back. 

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

Wish I would have been able to see him pitch. My dad always raved about his knuckleball and how he pitched both games of a double header. We were lucky enough to get to shake his hand at an autograph signing years ago.

[tray]

4 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back. 

Thank you for that beautiful story and the pic..

Wilbur and Hoyt Wilhelm threw the knuckle ball and J.C. Martin tried to block them. I have fond memories of both of those pitchers and much simpler days.

[Falstaff]

I became a lifelong White Sox fan because of Wilbur Wood, Bart Johnson, Terry Forster, Goose Gossage, Bill Melton, Carlos May, No Neck Walt Williams, and Ed Herrmann.

RIP Wilbur 

[zisk]

27 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

I became a lifelong White Sox fan because of Wilbur Wood, Bart Johnson, Terry Forster, Goose Gossage, Bill Melton, Carlos May, No Neck Walt Williams, and Ed Herrmann.

RIP Wilbur 

I knew you were a longtime fan by your name. That and Augsberger were the beers sold at Comiskey when I was young. Wood and Buehrle

are the two pitchers that have their pictures on my Sox shrine wall. Wilbur and Dick Allen are my boyhood heroes.

[TheBooneLoganEra]

11 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

For many years the Sox had a Hall of Fame located in the stadium I think it was by the home plate area, perhaps someone can correct me on this.

I know when the stadium renovations took place it was removed. I don't know what became of it. 

I remember this too. It was connected to the gift shop behind home plate but for a while was its own separate entity. I remember have to pay like a dollar to get in in the first few years the park. Always thought it was cool. Guess unsurprisingly additional retail space won out. 

Rip Wilbur. If anyone would...

Edited Monday at 03:18 PM by TheBooneLoganEra

[Lip Man 1]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6982047/2026/01/18/wilbur-wood-knuckleball-white-sox-death/?source=athletic_thewindup_newsletter&campaign=16499593&userId=602876

[Lip Man 1]

Sox Machine with a nice recap of Wood's career:

https://soxmachine.com/2026/01/wilbur-woods-workload-will-continue-to-astound

By the way it's embarrassing that the Sox own website has a very generic story on him written by someone who only gives the basics of his career very little insight.

And the Sun-Times is even worse, story written by someone who clearly knows very little about him. 

 

[Lip Man 1]

A part of a long interview I did with Wilbur in 2005:

ML: The White Sox fell on miserable times in the late 60's and 1970. I think they lost more games in that three-year period than at any other time in franchise history. The Sox lost 106 games in 1970 alone, it had to be agony going to the park every day. I don’t know how you guys kept your sanity!

WW: “It was awful. I’ll tell you how bad it was. The only games that I ever wanted to come into were games where I could pick up a save. I never wanted to go into games where the score was tied because I knew and everybody on the team knew, that we’d find some way to lose the game. We had no chance. The pitchers knew it and the position players knew it.”

ML: Your teammate Joe Horlen told me about his 1971 spring training injury which caused him to miss most of the season. But that’s only half of the story because as a direct result of his injury, Chuck Tanner began considering the option of making you a starting pitcher. I have heard you were against the move but for the sake of the team decided to give it a try. Why the initial opposition?

WW: “That was a strange situation because even before the injury I was almost traded. It’s true...the Sox had a deal in place with Washington. I was going to be traded for Darold Knowles. But I was holding out that year, I was fighting for more money and I never signed a contract. So the trade was null and void. It was pretty apparent that Chuck (Tanner) didn’t want me in the bullpen. He wanted hard throwing guys and we had players like Terry Forster and “Goose” Gossage coming up so I became a starter. Roland Hemond said this one time and it’s true, “Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.”

[Lip Man 1]

My complete interview with Wilbur from 2005:

https://www.southsidesox.com/chicago-white-sox-history/119553/flashback-a-conversation-with-wilbur-wood

[soxrwhite]

On 1/18/2026 at 11:03 PM, WestEddy said:

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back. 

 

On 1/18/2026 at 11:03 PM, WestEddy said:

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back. 

That is a great story!