The Saline County area has been known for producing superb baseball talent over the course of the past 20 years.
With much of the diamond dynamics coming from Bryant, and in the form of pitchers, Friday night was used as a time to celebrate as former Hornet, and new World Series champion, Travis Wood came back home.
Traipsing through a large crowd on a parade route to Hornet Stadium before Bryant played host to Springdale in Round 1 of the 7A Playoffs, Wood was the star of the night. With Gov. Asa Hutchinson, state Rep. Lanny Fite and Rep. Kim Hammer, along with other elected officials in attendance, the Chicago Cubs relief pitcher was in awe of the support shown for him and the Cubs organization as many were clad in Cubs attire.
“Unbelievable,” Wood said. “With this being home, I come back every offseason. I love it here. I have a house here and this is where I am raising a family.
“To see the city turn out the way it did was pretty special.”
Wood put together arguably his best year of his career in 2016, finishing with a 4-0 record and a 2.95 earned run average in 77 relief appearances in the regular season. All of which were career bests.
The Bryant native also turned heads in the postseason, especially Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants.
After having to enter the game in the fourth inning for an injured Kyle Hendricks, Wood surprised with his bat over his arm, launching a homerun to left field. The longball was the first by a postseason relief pitcher since Rosy Ryan in 1924 for the New York Giants.
Wood said the knock was all luck as he spoke with reporters following the game. Wood joined former Cubs Kerry Wood and Rick Sutcliffe as the only Chi-Town pitchers to hit homeruns in postseason play.
With nine regular season homers to his credit, Wood trails only the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner and Baltimore’s Yovani Gallardo for most homeruns among active pitchers.
Aside from the hit, Wood also earned the win in Game 2.
Knowing he could enter the game at any time, Wood said the veteran leadership of this year’s team is what helped him the most.
“David Ross was a big impact on me, Jon Lester and really everybody,” Wood said. “All of the veteran guys had a big influence, but everybody knew what they were doing and knew the game and we all fed off of each other.
After cruising through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Cubs ran into some trouble in the World Series. With all of the hype surrounding Chicago and Cleveland, since neither team had won a title in more than 170 years combined, the Cubs found themselves at the bottom looking up as they fell in a 3-1 hole.
But Chicago never gave up, even after blowing a 3-run eighth-inning lead in Game 7 before capturing its first title in 108 years in extra innings.
“Never give up,” Wood said. “That is something we chanted all year long. We went back to just taking a game-by-game, inning-by-inning, pitch-by-pitch approach and we ended up winning it.”
Wood signed a one-year, $6.175 million contract before last season with Chicago and is currently listed as a 2017 free agent.
Wood is one of three well-known big league hurlers to hail from Saline County in recent memory with Cliff Lee and Wes Gardner rising from Benton.
Lee has not pitched since 2014 after battling arm injuries. His contract with the Philadelphia Phillies concluded its final year in 2016 and Lee, too, is listed as a free agent.
Gardner played for four teams from 1984 to 1991 with his best years coming in Boston where he won 17 games in five seasons.