Against All Odds: Should the Cubs retire Kerry Wood's number?

The unofficial rule is that you have to be a HOFer to even be considered. They broke that rule for Santo as a way to make a statement that they felt he should be have been a HOFer (and he now is).

Wood? I'm not even sure he'd be in the top 10 "next in line" to get their number retired.

 

Six-time all-star Don Kessinger wonders what all the fuss is about...

 

That's Ron Cey's number, dammit.

Don't mess with the Penguin.

 

I think everybody's looking at this the wrong way. Retiring Wood's number wouldn't be so much like retiring the number of a player. It would be akin to the statue of Harry Caray outside Wrigley. There's been kind of a lineage of Mr. Cub types from Banks and Santo to Billy Williams to Sandberg to Grace to Wood.

Cubs fans are obviously an emotional bunch. Retiring Wood's number wouldn't be about his statistics or even so much about his play on the field. Kerry Wood was another in a long line of future Cub messiahs. The 20K game, the 2003 season and the fact that he's always come up big in big situations in combination with his extreme loyalty and clubhouse leadership play big in Chicago. Plus, he's always been big with local charities and public appearances. He's become a transplanted "Chicago guy."

 

Maybe they should put "20K" on the wall.

 

Dammit, I knew that was coming!

 

If Kevin Fucking Orie could pick up a ground ball it would have been a perfect game.

 

Cubs fans got emotional about a lot of players before Kerry Wood, and they'll be emotional about a lot of players after.

Williams to Sandberg to Grace to Wood is a very, very forced lineage. Among the problems with that thought is that you are getting noticeably worse every step of the way. Is Darwin Barney the next link in the chain?

 

A 19K perfect game. Worth it?

 

It wouldn't have been a perfect game. He hit Biggio in the back of the head with a pitch.

 

If that's the case, it only confirms again every negative stereotype about Cubs fans. It's always been about the "Wrigley experience" and getting drunk in the bleachers and being seen on WGN and having the Lovable Cubbies out there. Winning games? Whatever.

If you're retiring a guy's number in large part because of public appearances and local charities, then you may as well be a Boys and Girls' Club team.

 

Other than Santo - who was a special case - Greg Maddux is the only Cub to have his number retired without first being inducted into the Hall of Fame. But he shared the number with Fergie Jenkins, who is in the HoF.

I think that's a pretty good bar to stick with.