WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.700 Imagine being like the most terrifying, just 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:06.160 utterly dominant athlete in your entire sport. 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:08.800 Right. You are striking out legends, you're breaking 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.339 long -standing records, and throwing the baseball 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.619 with such violent force that you are literally 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:16.140 tearing your own arm apart just to entertain 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.679 the crowds. Yeah, just completely redlining your 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:21.019 body. Exactly. You are a god on the diamond. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.079 And then out of nowhere, your entire career is 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:26.100 erased because you slipped on some wet grass 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.719 picking up a... rolling baseball. It sounds like 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:32.520 a cruel joke, honestly, but it's the reality 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:35.820 of how incredibly fragile peak human performance 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:38.979 actually is. It really is. Welcome to today's 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:41.200 Deep Dive. We've got a fascinating set of notes 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.960 and biographical excerpts today about a nearly 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:46.700 forgotten sports legend from the early 20th century, 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:49.659 a guy named Smokey Joe Wood. Yeah. And for you 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:51.520 listening, we want to be clear right out of gate 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:54.700 here. This is not just some dusty, nostalgic 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:57.500 sports history recap. Far from it. This is a 00:00:57.500 --> 00:00:59.799 study in what happens when the one thing that 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.939 defines your entire identity is suddenly just 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:05.760 tripped away. Right. We are going to explore 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.060 the anatomy of a spectacular professional peak, 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:13.000 a devastating freak setback, and an unprecedented 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.409 reinvention. It is an absolute master class in 00:01:16.409 --> 00:01:18.310 adaptability. It really is. Because this man 00:01:18.310 --> 00:01:21.450 suffered a career ending injury, right? And then 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:23.370 miraculously returned to conquer the exact same 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:25.370 sport, doing something completely different. 00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:27.870 Which is almost impossible to comprehend. It's 00:01:27.870 --> 00:01:30.730 insane. Oh. But to understand the magnitude of 00:01:30.730 --> 00:01:33.569 that comeback, we have to look at the sheer unfiltered 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:36.769 force of what he started with. Joe Wood's entry 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:39.189 into professional sports was highly unconventional. 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:41.469 Weary. He started out playing amateur ball in 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:44.400 O 'Rea, Colorado. But his real debut came with 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.900 a team called the Bloomer Girls. Which is just 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:49.799 a brilliant, bizarre piece of Americana. The 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:52.920 Bloomer Girls were a barnstorming exhibition 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:55.280 team. They traveled the country setting up games 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:57.260 wherever they could, and they were a mostly female 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:00.000 roster playing against local men's teams. Wow. 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:03.239 But to keep the games competitive and to draw 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:05.620 crowds, these teams would usually feature at 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:07.980 least one or two male players on the roster. 00:02:08.659 --> 00:02:11.340 And Wood was one of those guys. But he wasn't 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:13.159 just playing on the team. He was in disguise. 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:16.319 Ted Williams told this incredible story on a 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.240 radio program back in 1950, explaining that when 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:21.699 the Boston Red Sox originally scouted and signed 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:25.199 Joe Wood in 1908 as an 18 -year -old, mind you, 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.900 Wood was actively posing as a girl to pitch for 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:31.419 this exhibition team. I mean, picture that. The 00:02:31.419 --> 00:02:33.580 Red Sox Scouts looked past the novelty act of 00:02:33.580 --> 00:02:37.520 a teenager in a wig and saw an arm that frankly, 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.460 defied the logic of the era. It totally did. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:44.000 By his 1911 breakthrough season at just 21 years 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.400 old, Wood is putting up numbers that look like 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.319 typos. Seriously. 23 wins, a no -hitter, and 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:52.560 a 15 strikeout game. He even struck out 23 batters 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.479 in an exhibition game. Which is just absurd. 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:57.620 And his ERA, his earned run average, was 2 .02, 00:02:57.979 --> 00:02:59.900 meaning he was giving up barely two runs over 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:02.319 the course of an entire game. This is where the 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.599 smoky nickname is born. Right, because his fastball 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:07.139 was just a terrifying blur of smoke. Exactly. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.159 Wood himself later said in a 1966 book, quote, 00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:12.520 I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.860 off my body. OK, let's unpack this. Because watching 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.900 him pitch must have been like watching a high 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:21.439 -performance sports car engine being constantly 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:23.639 run in the red line. That's a great way to put 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:26.460 it. Right. Like, it is spectacular to watch. 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:29.120 The noise and the power are intoxicating. But 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.780 mechanically, you know it's doomed to snap. Yeah. 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:33.780 Let's break down the mechanics of why that engine 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:36.039 was doomed. Because you have to remember the 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:38.020 context of the sport at that time. This was the 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:40.699 dead ball era. Right. The physical baseballs 00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:45.120 they used were soft, mushy, and honestly overused. 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:47.659 They didn't travel far when hit. So it changed 00:03:47.659 --> 00:03:50.580 how everyone played. Exactly. Because of that, 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.039 pitchers usually focused on pacing themselves. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.039 They used strategy, placement, and trick pitches 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:58.580 like the spitball to get batters out. They were 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:01.020 trying to conserve energy. Right. Throwing with 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:03.699 maximum violent velocity on every single pitch 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.580 was incredibly anomalous. It was a physical shock 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:08.659 to the system for anyone watching. He wasn't 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:11.400 just throwing a ball. He was weaponizing his 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.379 own anatomy. He really was, and the human shoulder 00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:16.759 and elbow are simply not designed to act as a 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:18.959 catapult firing at maximum tension over and over 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.759 again. Generating that kind of torque, especially 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.019 back then, without modern sports medicine or 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:26.699 ice baths or surgical reconstruction, it took 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:29.560 a devastating physical toll. Every time he wound 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:31.759 up and threw that fastball, he was borrowing 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.480 time from his future to fuel the present. And 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:36.980 that terrifying velocity is exactly what set 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:39.319 him on a collision course with the only other 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:42.060 man on the planet who threw like he did. Which 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:45.319 leads us into the mythical season of 1912. Oh, 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:49.620 man 1912 woods numbers that you're almost incomprehensible 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:52.959 today a record of 34 wins and only five losses 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.939 Just just to put 34 wins in perspective for a 00:04:55.939 --> 00:04:58.439 modern listener today Starting pitchers usually 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:01.540 only play in about 30 to 33 games an entire season 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:04.860 Yeah would one 34 of them since the year 1900 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:07.379 only 13 pitchers have ever won 30 or more games 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:10.420 in a single year Woods 34 victories remain the 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:13.000 sixth highest total in modern baseball history. 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:16.339 That is wild. He threw an ERA of 1 .91 and struck 00:05:16.339 --> 00:05:19.720 out 258 batters. He also tied the consecutive 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:23.040 win record, winning 16 straight games. And that 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.360 unbelievable streak sets up the ultimate rivalry 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.300 with the legendary Walter Johnson. Oh, this is 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:32.569 the best part. Right. Now, Johnson was scientifically 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:35.529 tested at a munitions plant, of all places, to 00:05:35.529 --> 00:05:38.370 throw 6 .1 miles per hour faster than anyone 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:40.269 else of his era. Yeah, they actually measured 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:43.790 it. And yet Johnson famously told a reporter, 00:05:44.170 --> 00:05:46.350 quote, Listen, my friend, there's no man alive 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.910 can throw harder than Smokey Joe Wood. What a 00:05:48.910 --> 00:05:51.750 compliment. Seriously. Wood humbly deflected 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:53.889 the praise back to Johnson, but the media smelled 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:55.670 blood in the water. They couldn't get enough 00:05:55.670 --> 00:06:00.269 of it. September 6, 1912. The Washington Senators 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:03.089 come to Boston, and the Senators actively challenge 00:06:03.089 --> 00:06:05.149 the Red Sox to alter their pitching rotation, 00:06:05.529 --> 00:06:07.750 just to force a Wood versus Johnson duel. The 00:06:07.750 --> 00:06:09.670 papers hyped it up like a heavyweight prize fight. 00:06:10.189 --> 00:06:12.389 Fenway Park was packed to the gills with a standing 00:06:12.389 --> 00:06:15.889 room -only crowd of 29 ,000 fans, all desperate 00:06:15.889 --> 00:06:18.310 to see these two physical anomalies go head -to 00:06:18.310 --> 00:06:21.850 -head. And Wood out -dueled him. It was a scoreless 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:24.529 tie until the sixth inning, when Triss Beaker 00:06:24.529 --> 00:06:27.620 and Duffy Lewis knocked in a run. Wood gave up 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.660 no runs, only two hits, and won the game 1 -0. 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:33.699 Incredible. But wait a minute, though. Are you 00:06:33.699 --> 00:06:36.540 saying the Red Sox actively disrupted their own 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:39.459 team's strategy and rotation just to feed into 00:06:39.459 --> 00:06:41.879 the media hype of a one -on -one duel? They absolutely 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.800 did. Did the pressure of these artificially hyped 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:47.459 prize fights like, forcing Wood to throw harder 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:50.019 and harder to match Johnson? Did that actually 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:52.480 cause the strain on his arm? Well, what's fascinating 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.399 here is how Walter Johnson himself analyzed Wood's 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.439 mechanics. Johnson was known for being very straightforward, 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.800 and he noted that Wood could throw as hard as 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.019 humanly possible, but only safely for two or 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:05.160 three innings. Wait, really? Just two or three? 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:08.379 Yeah. Wood's specific delivery put an unnatural, 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.160 violent strain on his arm. So when you take a 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.199 pitcher with those volatile mechanics and throw 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.620 him into a heavily hyped winner -take -all spectacle 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:18.459 where his pride is on the line against his biggest 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:22.180 rival. Oh man. He is going to push way past that 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:24.579 two to three innings safety threshold. He's gonna 00:07:24.579 --> 00:07:27.000 redline the engine for all nine innings. He has 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.860 no choice. The team, the fans, and Wood himself 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:33.560 were all cashing in on a physical asset that 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:36.199 was rapidly depreciating. Yeah. It highlights 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:38.899 the profound danger, in any profession, really, 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.540 of prioritizing short -term spectacle over long 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:44.920 -term sustainability. And the climax of that 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:47.480 short -term spectacle arrived a month later on 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:50.459 the biggest stage imaginable, the 1912 World 00:07:50.459 --> 00:07:52.980 Series. Right. Against John McGrath's New York 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:56.769 Giants and the great Christy Matthewson. This 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:59.589 series goes to a deciding game eight at Fenway. 00:07:59.889 --> 00:08:02.629 It's a game filled with incredible chaotic drama. 00:08:02.670 --> 00:08:04.930 It goes into extra innings. The Giants actually 00:08:04.930 --> 00:08:06.990 take the lead in the top of the 10th. It looked 00:08:06.990 --> 00:08:09.089 like it was over. It did. But in the bottom of 00:08:09.089 --> 00:08:11.389 the 10th, there's the infamous Snodgrass Muff. 00:08:11.550 --> 00:08:14.290 Oh, right. Yeah. A dropped, incredibly easy fly 00:08:14.290 --> 00:08:16.649 ball by Giants center fielder Fred Snodgrass 00:08:16.649 --> 00:08:18.850 that gives the Red Sox completely unexpected 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:21.279 new life. Boston capitalizes on the error. They 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:23.699 scored two runs. And Smokey Joe Wood gets the 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.500 win, 3 -2. He pitched the final three innings 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:28.899 of that game. He secured his third win of the 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:31.540 series. He became the first pitcher ever to strike 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:33.799 out 11 batters in a single -world series game. 00:08:34.019 --> 00:08:36.440 It's just legendary stuff. He is sitting on top 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.879 of the world. The absolute zenith of a career. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:44.440 And then the fall. The fall is rarely the heroic 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:46.659 on -the -mound explosion of a shoulder we might 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:50.759 imagine. No. It's 1913. He's fielding a simple 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:53.879 routine bunt against the Detroit Tigers. He slips 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:56.559 on the wet grass, falls awkwardly, and breaks 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.039 his thumb. That's it? That's it. A broken thumb 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.720 from a routine bunt ruining the era's greatest 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:04.440 pitching arm is like, I don't know, a real class 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:06.639 concert pianist ending their career by slipping 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:08.340 while chopping an onion in the kitchen. Yeah, 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:10.639 that's exactly what it's like. It's the completely 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:13.519 mundane destroying the extraordinary. Think about 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.460 why a thumb matters so much to a pitcher. The 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:19.600 thumb is the anchor. It dictates the grip, the 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:21.879 spin, the release point, and the stability of 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.440 the ball as it leaves the hand at maximum velocity. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:27.600 When that anchor is broken, the arm compensates. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:30.139 Oh, I see. The mechanics change. And when you 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:32.539 are already pitching at the absolute razor's 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:35.460 edge of physical capability, even a millimeter 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:38.279 of mechanical compensation tears the shoulder 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:40.779 and elbow apart. In the text notes he pitched 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:43.429 in agony. for three straight seasons after that 00:09:43.429 --> 00:09:46.169 broken thumb. Three years. He was unable to recover. 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:48.950 His appearance is dwindling year by year. He 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:53.250 sits out almost entirely in 1916 and 1917. His 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:55.789 pitching career is effectively dead. And you 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:58.590 know, the psychological devastation of that fall 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:01.029 is arguably worse than the physical pain. I can't 00:10:01.029 --> 00:10:03.230 even imagine. When your entire identity, your 00:10:03.230 --> 00:10:05.769 nickname, your fame and your livelihood are entirely 00:10:05.769 --> 00:10:08.370 built on a single, irreplicable physical trait, 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:11.909 the Smokey Fastball. Losing it to a freak accident 00:10:11.909 --> 00:10:14.309 doesn't just end your job. It shatters your sense 00:10:14.309 --> 00:10:16.769 of self. Usually for athletes in this position, 00:10:16.830 --> 00:10:19.190 that means the end of the story. They fade into 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:21.710 obscurity, becoming ghosts, haunting their own 00:10:21.710 --> 00:10:25.889 profession. But not Wood. Late in 1917, he is 00:10:25.889 --> 00:10:28.629 sold to the Cleveland Indians, where he reunites 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:31.769 with his former teammate, Driss Beaker. And instead 00:10:31.769 --> 00:10:35.049 of fading into obscurity, Wood decides he is 00:10:35.049 --> 00:10:37.980 going to become an outfielder. Right. I'm trying 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.440 to wrap my head around the ego check this requires. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.860 If I lose the one thing that makes me world class, 00:10:44.179 --> 00:10:47.000 my instinct is to pivot to coaching or broadcasting 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.419 or management. Sure, take the safe route. Not 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:51.519 to start over as a struggling rookie in a totally 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.919 different position in the exact same field, here's 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:57.399 where it gets really interesting. How many elite 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:00.019 professionals completely lose their primary skill 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:02.559 and instead of retiring, just switch to a completely 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.600 different, equally difficult skill and achieve 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.080 top 10 status again? How on earth did he mentally 00:11:09.080 --> 00:11:11.259 survive that? Well, if we connect this to the 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:13.019 bigger picture, he essentially took the mental 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:15.899 software that made him an elite pitcher and successfully 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:18.320 ported it into the hardware of an outfielder. 00:11:18.419 --> 00:11:20.460 Wow, okay. Think about what a hitter actually 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.659 has to do. They have to process information in 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:25.220 fractions of a second. They have to read the 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:27.139 spin of the ball and understand the psychology 00:11:27.139 --> 00:11:29.980 of the man on the mound. Ah, right. Wood survived 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:32.799 the ego check because he realized his underlying 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.419 genius wasn't just in his shoulder, it was in 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:38.240 his processing speed. He knew exactly what pitchers 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.000 were trying to do to batters because he used 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.080 to be the ultimate predator on the mound. He 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.919 knew their secrets. Exactly. He just had to reverse 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:46.759 engineer that knowledge from the batter's box. 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:50.460 Still, it was a brutal struggle early on in 1918. 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:54.259 He had to grind just to stay on the roster. But 00:11:54.259 --> 00:11:56.379 the turning point is like something out of a 00:11:56.379 --> 00:12:00.110 movie script. May 24, 1918. The Indians are playing 00:12:00.110 --> 00:12:03.149 a grueling marathon 19 inning game against the 00:12:03.149 --> 00:12:05.870 Yankees at the Polo grounds. 19 innings. Just 00:12:05.870 --> 00:12:08.370 exhausting. Wood hits two home runs in that game, 00:12:08.429 --> 00:12:10.090 including the game winner of the 19th inning. 00:12:10.509 --> 00:12:13.169 And his quote afterward is just dripping with 00:12:13.169 --> 00:12:15.070 the exhaustion of a man who's been fighting for 00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:17.590 his life. He said, quote, The worst was finally 00:12:17.590 --> 00:12:20.549 over. That is the moment he finally crossed the 00:12:20.549 --> 00:12:23.110 psychological threshold from former injured pitcher 00:12:23.110 --> 00:12:26.830 to legitimate everyday position player. The ghost 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:29.649 was gone. He was a new athlete. And. He didn't 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:31.690 just survive as a hitter, he achieved top -tier 00:12:31.690 --> 00:12:34.909 status again. He finished in the top 10 in the 00:12:34.909 --> 00:12:38.210 American League in RBIs twice, meaning he was 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:40.129 one of the best in the league at getting hits 00:12:40.129 --> 00:12:42.490 that drove his teammates across home plate to 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:45.649 score. Yeah, real clutch hitting. In 1918, he 00:12:45.649 --> 00:12:47.710 was top 10 in home runs, doubles, and batting 00:12:47.710 --> 00:12:51.090 average. By his final season in 1922, he hit 00:12:51.090 --> 00:12:56.470 .283 with 150 hits and 92 RBIs. He even played 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:59.389 in the 1920 World Series, winning another championship 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:02.409 ring as an outfielder. Which is just phenomenal. 00:13:02.529 --> 00:13:05.190 It's also worth noting his former Boston teammate 00:13:05.190 --> 00:13:08.909 Babe Ruth made this exact same, incredibly rare, 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:11.350 pitcher -to -outfielder pivot a year later in 00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:14.149 1919. It's the ultimate proof that true greatness 00:13:14.149 --> 00:13:16.809 isn't always bound to one specific physical output. 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.840 It's an underlying capacity to learn, to adapt 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.039 and outthink the competition, regardless of the 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:23.980 role you were forced to play. When achieving 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:25.879 greatness a second time isn't just about proving 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:27.919 something to yourself, it changes how you view 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.240 the game entirely. Which is exactly why Wood 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.240 didn't just retire to a quiet life after winning 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.100 his second ring. No, he had too much to give. 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:36.799 He translated all of that hard -won knowledge 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.080 into a lifelong legacy of teaching. He became 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.279 the head baseball coach at Yale University for 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:46.720 18 years, compiling over 280 wins and even coaching 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.360 his own son. He became a true professor of the 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.940 sport. There's a wonderful anecdote from 1981 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.259 beautifully recorded by the writer Roger Angel. 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:57.240 Oh, I love this story. It's so good. Wood is 00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:59.720 in his 90s, sitting in the stands at Yale, watching 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:02.980 an epic 11 inning no hit pitching duel between 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:06.019 Yale's Ron Darling and St. John's Frank Viola, 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:08.259 both of whom would go on to be major leaguers. 00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:11.899 Right. Wood, watching these college kids struggle 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:14.779 to get a hit off these incredible pitchers, leans 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:17.139 over and advises that the hitters should shorten 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:19.059 up on the bat, just like Ty Cobb used to do. 00:14:19.179 --> 00:14:21.399 He's pulling tactical, mechanical advice from 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:24.120 a guy he played against 70 years prior to solve 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.139 a problem happening right in front of him. Exactly. 00:14:26.259 --> 00:14:28.899 The mind was still completely sharp. And yet... 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:31.830 Despite this incredible second and third act, 00:14:32.470 --> 00:14:34.629 baseball historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald 00:14:34.629 --> 00:14:38.649 Hunnig coined a term in 1981 called the Smokey 00:14:38.649 --> 00:14:40.230 Joe Woods Syndrome. Right, I've heard of that. 00:14:40.450 --> 00:14:42.909 Yeah, it's a category they use for players with 00:14:42.909 --> 00:14:45.350 truly exceptional talent, whose careers were 00:14:45.350 --> 00:14:48.210 curtailed by injury, yet who still belong on 00:14:48.210 --> 00:14:50.710 the list of all -time greats. Yeah. But I have 00:14:50.710 --> 00:14:54.169 to ask. Are the historians completely shortchanging 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:57.750 him here by focusing so heavily on the curtailed 00:14:57.750 --> 00:15:01.129 by injury aspect? Calling it a syndrome makes 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:03.549 it sound like a tragedy. Yeah, it does. Maybe 00:15:03.549 --> 00:15:05.309 his greatness isn't that his pitching peak was 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:08.350 cut short, but that he had two entirely separate, 00:15:08.350 --> 00:15:11.370 highly successful careers in one lifetime. You're 00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:13.809 absolutely right. The syndrome label paints him 00:15:13.809 --> 00:15:17.139 as a victim of circumstance. It reduces his life 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:18.919 to a what -if story, like what if he never slipped 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.740 on that wet grass? Exactly. But his actual life 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:24.679 proves that true mastery isn't just about uninterrupted 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.820 longevity in one specific narrow task. It's about 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:29.899 building a deep foundational understanding of 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:32.899 your craft that allows you to adapt to any circumstance. 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.779 Yeah. And honestly, Yale University seemed to 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:38.039 recognize this broader intellectual and personal 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.480 impact far better than the sports historians 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.720 did. In 1985, at the age of 95, Yale's president, 00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:48.070 Abe Bartlett presented Joe Wood with an honorary 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:50.710 doctorate of humane letters. He was the first 00:15:50.710 --> 00:15:53.190 big leaguer to ever receive that honor from Yale. 00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:56.649 He was one of only two men, alongside the legendary 00:15:56.649 --> 00:15:59.769 composer Cole Porter, to be honored outside a 00:15:59.769 --> 00:16:02.179 traditional commencement ceremony. It's an incredible 00:16:02.179 --> 00:16:04.460 distinction. He passed away later that year, 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:07.620 the very last surviving member of the 1912 Champions. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.759 He lived a full, brilliantly adapted life. He 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:12.879 didn't let the wet grass be the end of his sentence. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.919 So for you listening today, thinking about your 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:18.080 own career or your own personal hurdles, Smokey 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:21.120 Joe Wood is a profound reminder that a catastrophic 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:23.639 setback might just be the pivot point forcing 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:25.820 you to discover a secondary talent you never 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:28.289 even knew you had. It's so true. Think about 00:16:28.289 --> 00:16:30.309 a time you had to start over at a new job where 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:32.669 you used to be the boss, or a time a project 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:35.490 you poured your soul into just collapsed. That 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:38.389 level of humbling is terrifying. But Wood shows 00:16:38.389 --> 00:16:40.110 us that the mental software you build in your 00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:42.169 first success can absolutely be ported over to 00:16:42.169 --> 00:16:44.909 your next chapter. It asks us a fundamental question, 00:16:44.950 --> 00:16:47.669 really. Are we defining ourselves by the one 00:16:47.669 --> 00:16:51.330 specific thing we do, or by our capacity to learn 00:16:51.330 --> 00:16:53.409 how to do the next thing? I want to leave you 00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:56.039 with a final thought to mull over. based on a 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:58.220 really subtle detail we discussed from the source 00:16:58.220 --> 00:17:02.379 text. Okay. The text mentions that Wood pitched 00:17:02.379 --> 00:17:05.880 in intense pain for three straight seasons after 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:08.619 his injury before finally giving it up and moving 00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:11.640 to the outfield. Right. Three long years. It 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:14.059 makes you wonder if he hadn't been so stubbornly 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:16.099 attached to his old identity as a pitcher, you 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:18.819 know, pushing through the agony to protect his 00:17:18.819 --> 00:17:21.500 ego and his smoky nickname. Could he have started 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:24.019 his brilliant second act as a hitter even sooner? 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:27.579 Wow. That's a great point. How often do we endure 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:30.480 the pain of a broken situation just because we're 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.059 afraid to reinvent ourselves? We stare so hard 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:35.319 at the illusion of that flawless, indestructible 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.859 machine, we forget that sometimes the most beautiful 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:40.299 things we build are made entirely from the broken 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:42.940 pieces of our first attempt. Thanks for joining 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:45.160 us on this deep dive. Thanks for listening. We'll 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:45.619 see you next time.