1952

Ken Wood was born on July 1, 1924 in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He attended Paw Creek Elementary School and Central High School in Charlotte where he played baseball and basketball all three years, and some football. He signed professionally with the Charlotte Hornets, who had outbid the St. Louis Browns for his services. He played very briefly with Charlotte before receiving a telegram that the agreement with the Browns gave them prior rights.

His pro career seemed to start more in earnest in 1942 in the Browns system, when he played for the Huntington (West Virginia) Jewels in the Class-C Mountain State League. 

In 1943 he played for three teams: Toledo for two games, and then two teams in the Philadelphia Athletics system for Elmira and Wilmington (Delaware.) Later in 1943, he joined the Coast Guard and served until early 1946. 

He played in three locations, all in the Browns system, in 1946: class B Spartanburg, AA San Antonio, and AAA Toledo. 

In 1947 he was leading the Eastern League in home runs with 23, when his contract was purchased by the Browns, calling for him to report to the big-league team in the spring of 1948. He was edged out for the home run title, but he drove in 96 runs and was named to the league All-Star team.

Ken opened the 1948 season with the big-league club, and debuted in St. Louis with a pinch-hitting assignment in April. In June, batting .083, he was optioned to San Antonio. 

He started the 1949 season with the St. Louis club, this time appearing in seven games, but without any hits at all. In mid-May he was sent to the Baltimore Orioles (International League).

In 1950 he appeared in 128 games for the Browns. He played in 109 games in 1951 and hit .237. At the end of the season, he was part of a November trade in which the Browns sent him to the Boston Red Sox.

With Ted Williams called back to the Marine Corps for the Korean War, the Red Sox needed to bolster their outfield, but Ken wasn’t the answer.  Faye Throneberry took over for the most part, while Ken appeared in 15 games, with 20 at-bats, and only mustered two singles. In June, the Red Sox traded him to the Washington Senators.

He played left field most of the time for the Senators, getting into 61 games and hit .238. He played with the Nats in 1953, too, for a while, starting as their left fielder for the first seven games of the season, then pinch-hitting in five more games. Hitting .212 in May, he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Dodgers sent him to their Triple-A team in Montreal. who won the Little World Series that year. In 1954, soon after the season began, he was purchased outright from Montreal. He had a bit of a rebound, getting into a combined 135 games for the Richmond Virginians (and Montreal) batting .276.

Ken had two more years left as a player. In 1955 he was with Richmond again and his final season was in Single-A ball, for the 1956 Charlotte Hornets, in the South Atlantic League. 

After baseball, Ken Wood worked for 28 years as an agent for the Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America, living in Charlotte. He and his wife retired to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and he died in Myrtle Beach on November 22, 2007, at the age of 83.