Kerry Wood is on the 2018 Hall of Fame Ballot for the first time. Kerry had such great potential with his amazing rookie year, notching 20 strikeouts in his fifth start. A future Hall of Famer?
Then the injuries struck. He missed his entire sophomore year with Tommie John surgery. During his career Wood was placed on the disabled list 14 times in 14 major league seasons. Through the injuries he still managed to become the fastest to reach 1,000 strikeouts in MLB history (in innings pitched): 853 IP.
His career was too short. In fact, today Kerry Wood is 40 years old. The average HOF pitcher played for 18 seasons. Wood lasted for 7 full seasons as a starter. (He had 6 seasons as some sort of relief pitcher)
Despite his shortened career, he does have two impressive career stats:
- 4th all-time for highest Strikeouts per 9 IP (10.317)
- 11th all-time for lowest Hits per 9 IP (7.063)
But getting into the baseball Hall of Fame requires much more. Sorry, Kerry. We appreciate your 7 seasons as a starter. Those were a fun 7 years.