The End of An Era

Former New York Yankees pitcher and longtime Cubs fan favorite Kerry Wood has announced that he will retire following today's game. Wood (0-2, 8.64 ERA in 2012) has struggled with injuries recently including shoulder fatigue and last year, a knee problem. Wood played the latter half of the 2010 season with the Yankees, where he was 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA in 24 games setting up Rivera. He played extremely well in his career and his 20 strikeout game in 1998 will always be remembered as one of, if not the, greatest debuts in sports history. Wood, 34, who signed a 1-year, $3,000,000 contract in January after Theo Epstein convinced him to return, THRIVED as a setup man and closer for the Cubs. In 14 years, (12 of which were spent in Chicago), he compiled an 86-75 record with a 3.67 ERA.

It saddens me that injuries have finally led to his retirement. Obviously, he never won a championship (too much time in Chicago does that to you) but he was one of the premier closers and setup men in the game, likely in history. I wish him all the best in retirment and hope that someday he will have the honor of number retirement (with the Cubs of course), and maybe, just maybe, an invitation to Old Timers' Day in the future...