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Show SALT LIE FI WHS WOOD'SffllOLlTE Premier T wirier Was Leader Among Playmates and Always Al-ways Pitched. G. Y. iMayol of Tho Tribune staff waji a 6choolmato of .Too Wood, tho scJisa-llonal scJisa-llonal pitcher of the Boston team, and recalls tho very beginning of tho star'u career as follows: Joseph Wood. moro . familiarly known n.s "Smoky" -loo 'Wood, tho star pitcher for the Red Sox. started his .career as a baseball pitcher In tho little mining: camp of Ouray, Colo, a town with a population of lens than 1500 people. .At. that time he was attending- tho graded school In Ouray and was only a lad of fifteen fif-teen years of ace, whlcn was about olght yearn apo. making- him at tho present Urn less than 23 yen in old. Tho one and only school In tho town was a combination of hlj?h school and sn"aflod nchool. and art there wan not a very larpo attendance attend-ance It was nulto a difficult task for tho sport, loving, pupils to gather together to-gether enough ball players for two teams, but nevertheless, It wan managed man-aged n some way and there were many a fiercely fought game played, nfler thn dismissal of school, In the old lumber yard, Joe was pretty much of a leader among tho graded school pupils and, of course, whrm It came to boll playing-, he, belngr chorton captain of ono team, would always play what position suited his fancy, and It waa generally pitcher. During vacntlon time, trom June 1 to September 1, tho hoys would nil gathor on tho ball grounds Sunday afternoons, and after making nn equal division of tho men present, bascbnll would be tho on tiro afternoon's eiiJnynifiuL .As usual. Jon would nltch for ono team and It: waa thon that a number of -tho ball fans of the town began to tako auito an InterroHt In him. It could roadilv bo seen by his companions, as well an the older heads In the" town, that ha was tho making of a pond man In the baseball world, from the cane he took In placing n. nvrlft ball over tho plate, and also from tho curve.i he. pitched as a result of his peculiar "twist of the wrist" delivery. A. city ball team waB then organised," organ-ised," and although Joo was signed up with the team, ho was placed on the bench because of his ago, and was only called upon when It wan absolutely n'cessarv. Tt. won shortly niter this that the Wood family left Ouray for Chicago, where It was his father's lntontlon to continue with hla law practice. Joe Is aliio an expert pool and billiard bil-liard player and probably would have bf'Cft classed as a profeiinional and playing tho bent of them now If ho had not taken up baseball instead. At the present time bin leisure houra aro spent Jn this lino of amufiemont and lie plcka up considerable chango In Hi hi way. |