May 6, 1998: With a 'K'

CHICAGO - Tom Bujnowski thought he was prepared.

A big Kerry Wood fan, he showed up to the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field on May 6, 1998, with 16 "K" signs, planning to display one for each of Wood's strikeouts. The 16 might have seemed ambitious for a pitcher making his fifth career start, but Wood had already shown some flashes of brilliance

In his first four starts, Wood showed the inconsistency most expect from 20-year-old pitchers, with a 2-2 record and an ERA hovering near 6.00. But the one thing Wood showed an ability to do was strike out Major League hitters, having already punched out 25 in his first 11 innings as a Major League pitcher.

It was apparent early that Bujnowski might have been a bit clairvoyant in bringing so many signs, as the first five Astros hitters struck out. Wood didn't slow down from there. In the fourth and fifth innings, he struck out a shocking five straight batters looking, dropping his knee-bending curveball over the strike zone over and over again.

By the first out of the eighth inning, when Wood was in the middle of a stretch where he struck out seven straight hitters, Bujnowski had run out of signs. With five potential outs left in the game, he had to improvise. Fortunately, he was in the bleacher seats at Wrigley Field, so it was fairly easy to convince fans to paint the K's on their chests. After Wood struck out Derek Bell to end the game, the resulting image was one of the lasting pictures of a summer dominated by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa: the fans in left field holding up 16 "K" signs, with four people tacked on at the end with the letter painted on their bare chests.

Wood's performance got him in the record books, letting him join fellow Texan Roger Clemens in the 20-strikeout club, but it was much more than that. It's possible that no pitcher has ever been better in a single game than Wood was on that day in May. Along with the 20 strikeouts, Wood gave up only one hit, an infield single in the third inning that could just as easily have been ruled an error. The only other baserunner reached base by being hit by a pitch. Only two balls were hit into the outfield, and eight of his 20 strikeouts were looking. All this against a Houston team that would win a franchise-record 102 games that season on the strength of its offense.

That game was supposed to be a sign of things to come for Wood and the Cubs, but it wasn't meant to be. After a 13-6 rookie season in 1998, Wood missed all of the 1999 season with an elbow injury. He came back for the 2000 season, but various injuries prevented him from reaching the heights he did as a rookie; only once did Wood win as many games or strike out as many batters as he did in his freshman campaign. Currently, he's attempting another comeback, trying to make it back as a closer.

The recipe was perfect to create a memorable moment that day: a 20-year-old phenom reaching his potential in a huge way, striking out his age in a dominating performance, and an iconic image in the stands with the fans becoming human K signs. Wood may not have ever reached the career heights predicted for him when he struck out 20 Astros on May 6, 1998, but for that one night, there was nobody who ever pitched better.