Kid-K Says Goodbye

Mumblings hit the wire last Friday that Kerry Wood was going to hang 'em up and leave the Cubs later that day - I was blown away. Woody has been struggling this year (which is putting it lightly) but I always assumed it would pass and he'd be back to his old flame throwing self. In reading the build up and post game reports it felt different, something had changed and it seemed like baseball was no longer in the big picture - Kid-K had grown up.

My relationship (big stretch) with Kerry Wood goes back to my senior year in high school when he was still in the minors and Harry Caray would fly off the handle a couple times a week calling Wood the future. Unfortunately, Harry would pass away before seeing any of that promise fulfilled - he would have loved seeing Kerry's legendary 20-strikeout / 1-hit game in only his fifth career start (at age 19).

I remember where I was that day and who I was with, Jerde Hall Room 230 with Travis Watson, Matt Bastian, Josh Graves and Marty Skroch - crazy when you think about it over 14 years later. The day turned out to be the table of contents for his career - electric fastball, devastating curveball, effectively wild and a goatee that never perfectly fit. The following season was lost to Tommy John Surgery and struggles in 2000 seemed to be a fitting follow up to a banner rookie campaign. It became a theme of his career - tantilizing talent with less-than-tantalizing timing.

Later in his career, he made a move to the bullpen  and became very good at the backend of games (saving 34 games in 2008) featuring the same pitches that held so much promise back in 1998. He left Chicago for a couple years providing bullpen help to the Indians and Yankees before making a return trip to the northside.

I'll remember him for being lights out in Atlanta in 2003 on the mound and at the plate. I'll remember him for clubbing a homer in game 7 against the Marlins only to be saddled with the loss. I'll remember him as Harry Caray's favorite Cub phenom. I'll remember the 20-Strikeout game where he was an unhittable pitcher as I'll likely ever see. As he walked off the field on Friday and hugged his son I'll admit it got a little dusty in the Peper household - I'll miss that guy. Kid-K became the old man.