Kerry Wood Made History 16 Sweet Years Ago

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 6, 2014 9:20PM

Here's something that will make you feel old and have superstitious Cubs fans clutching their collective pearls. Kerry Wood tied a Major League Baseball record when he struck out 20 Houston Astros at Wrigley Field May 6, 1998. That was 16 years ago, everyone. Wood, now retired, was all of 20 years old.

It was only Wood's fifth career start but the highly touted righthander with a flamethrower for an arm stymied the Astros in a game where he missed a no-hitter by inches. Shortstop Ricky Gutierrez reached safely on an infield single off the glove of Kevin Orie. Several fans in attendance screamed to have the play changed to an error to preserve Wood's no-hitter. (Wood would later hit second baseman Craig Biggio with a pitch.)

Wood had five strikeouts after two innings. By the time Wood struck out Gutierrez to end the fifth inning he racked up 11 Ks and was on his way to history. It was one of the most dominating pitching performances of the past two decades, although the number of pitches Wood threw was a premonition that trouble was on the horizon.

Wood needed 122 pitches to make history and manager Jim Riggleman would use the rookie like a workhorse as the Cubs chased a wild card playoff berth. Elbow soreness forced the Cubs to shut down Wood the final month of the season and was ineffective in the playoffs against the Atlanta Braves. But he finished with a 13-6 record and was considered one of the building blocks for a Cubs team seeming on the rise. Then he had Tommy John surgery on his elbow in 1999, missed the entire season and his career was never the same.

Wood would later remake himself into a dependable reliever and bounced around to Cleveland and the New York Yankees before returning to the Cubs, where he retired in 2012.