Stone: Always Wanted Wood To Be Better
(WSCR) There might be no one better suited to discuss the career of Kerry Wood than former Cubs and current White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone.
Hours afters news broke that Wood will likely retire after Friday's game, Stone joined The McNeil and Spiegel Show to discuss the right-hander's time on the North Side.
"He kind of epitomized what a lot of the Cubs fans wanted from him and what a lot of the Cubs teams have been," Stone said. "You looked at Kerry, you looked at that great skill, but you always wanted him to be better. You always thought that, regardless of what he did, that he should have been better. Unfortunately, his body didn't allow him to be better."
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Still, there were bright spots of Wood's 14-year career, namely the 20-strikeout game in 1998.
"Fast forward to the 20-strikeout game," Stone said. "That was a phenomenon. It was his fifth Major League start in 1998. There wasn't a team that was ever assembled - not the 1927 Yankees, not the Big Red Machine, none of the great hitting teams ever assembled - that could have hit Kerry on that day. I've never seen stuff like that. Not only did the fast ball just explode, but both his curve and his slider were just unhittable."