Kenneth Lanier Wood (July 1, 1924 – November 22, 2007) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He played all or part of six seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

(1948–51),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

(1952) and Washington Senators (1952–53), mostly as a

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. He batted and threw right-handed. Wood was born in

Lincolnton, North Carolina Lincolnton is a city in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States within the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 11,091 at the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 12,128, as of 2023. Lincolnton is northwest of Charlo ...

. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

with a strong arm, in 1949 he threw 2 runners out at home plate in the same inning. The first runner attempted to score from second base on a right field single. Woods threw to

Sherm Lollar John Sherman Lollar Jr. (August 23, 1924 – September 24, 1977) was an American professional baseball player and Coach (baseball), coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1946 to 1963, most prominently as a member of the Chic ...

the catcher who tagged the runner out. The next hitter hit a fly ball to right field where Woods caught it with a runner on third base. Woods also threw a perfect strike to Sherman Lollar who again tagged the runner out. He began his professional career in 1941. He made his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns in 1948. In 1950 he hit 13

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and posted career numbers with 42

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

, 24 doubles, 62

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

and 128

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

, and in 1951 hit a career-high 15 home runs with 40 runs and 44 RBI in 109 games. He also appeared in part of two seasons with the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators and played his final major league game in 1953. He continued to play in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

until 1956. In a six-season career, Wood was a .224 hitter with 34 home runs and 143 RBI in 342 games. He never batted higher than .237 in a season.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Ken Major League Baseball right fielders St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen Boston Red Sox players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Springfield Browns players Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Huntington Jewels players Toledo Mud Hens players Elmira Pioneers players Wilmington Blue Rocks (1940–1952) players Spartanburg Peaches players San Antonio Missions players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Montreal Royals players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players Baseball players from North Carolina People from Lincolnton, North Carolina 1924 births 2007 deaths