Wilbur Wood

Wilbur Forrester Wood Jr. (October 22, 1941 – January 17, 2026) was an American professional baseball pitcher whose Major League career spanned 17 years. He threw left-handed and batted right-handed, becoming a knuckleball specialist after joining the Chicago White Sox.

Raised in Belmont, Massachusetts, Wood played several sports in high school and was signed by his hometown Boston Red Sox in 1960. He pitched sparingly for Boston over parts of four seasons from 1961 to 1964 before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1964. Seldom used by the Pirates in 1965, he spent all of 1966 in the minor leagues before being traded to the White Sox.

Having previously relied on a fastball and curveball, Wood refined the knuckleball with the help of veteran knuckleball specialist Hoyt Wilhelm. He spent the next four seasons as a relief pitcher for Chicago. In 1968, he set a record, broken the following year, with 88 games pitched, and was named the Sporting News American League Fireman of the Year. Wood pitched for the White Sox through 1978, closing a tenure with the club that began in 1967.