James McCarthy Woods (October 22, 1916 – February 20, 1988) was an American
sportscaster, best known for his
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
work on
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
broadcasts.
Biography
Early life
Woods was born in
Kansas City, Missouri. When only four years old, he became the mascot for the Triple-A baseball
Kansas City Blues; and when only eight, the team's batboy and reader of scores on local radio.
He attended the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
for a year before taking a job at
KGLO
KGLO (1300 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Mason City, Iowa. The station is owned by Alpha Media, through licensee Digity 3E License, LLC. It airs a news/talk radio format. The station aired an adult contemporary format during the 198 ...
in
Mason City, Iowa
Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro G ...
. In 1939, he replaced
Ronald Reagan as the
Iowa Hawkeyes football announcer.
Woods joined the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
in 1942, where he spent four years as a Chief Petty Officer on the Navy War Bond circuit, working with stars such as
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: ''Rope'' in 1948 and '' Strangers on a Train'' in 1951.
Granger was first noticed in a small ...
,
Dennis Day
Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent.
Early life
Day was born and raised in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York City, the ...
and
Victor Mature
Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darlin ...
. After the war he joined
WTAD
WTAD 930 AM is a radio station broadcasting a news talk format. Licensed to Quincy, Illinois, the station is owned by STARadio Corporation.
WTAD carries a variety of local programming, as well as nationally syndicated shows such as Laura Ingra ...
radio in
Quincy, Illinois, where he spent two years before moving to Atlanta as an announcer for the Triple-A
Atlanta Crackers
The Atlanta Crackers were Minor League Baseball teams based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1966.
History
Atlanta played its first ...
, replacing
Ernie Harwell
William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...
.
Broadcasting career
New York Yankees, New York Giants and NBC
In
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...
, Woods was hired to call
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
games alongside
Mel Allen
Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, ...
and
Joe E. Brown
Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 19 ...
. He was fired after the
1956 season when sponsor
Ballantine Beer wanted to make room for former Yankee shortstop
Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...
. Yankee general manager
George Weiss was opposed to this, and told Woods apologetically it was the only time he had to fire someone for no reason at all.
In 1957, Woods called both
New York Giants games with
Russ Hodges
Russell Pleasant Hodges (June 18, 1910 – April 19, 1971) was an American sportscaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the New York Giants / San Francisco Giants. He is perhaps best remembered for his call of Bobby ...
and the
''NBC Game of the Week'' with
Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson (May 25, 1919 – June 10, 1995) was an American sportscaster best known for his long career calling play-by-play of college football and New York Mets baseball.
Nelson spent 17 years with the Mets and three years with the San F ...
and
Leo Durocher
Leo Ernest Durocher (French spelling Léo Ernest Durocher) (; July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Leo the Lip" and "Lippy", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an infie ...
. The Giants moved to San Francisco after the season, without Woods; Giants owner
Horace Stoneham
Horace Charles Stoneham ( ; April 27, 1903 – January 7, 1990) was an American Major League Baseball executive and the owner of the New York / San Francisco Giants from 1936 to 1976.
Inheriting the Giants, then one of the most prominent franch ...
wanted someone who knew the Bay Area to work alongside Hodges. This marked the second time within a period of two years in which Woods was dismissed by a club for different reasons that had nothing to do with any fault of his own.
Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals
In
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
, Woods moved to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
as
Bob Prince
Robert Ferris Prince (July 1, 1916 – June 10, 1985) was an American radio and television sportscaster and commentator, best known for his 28-year stint as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball club, with whom he earned the ...
's sidekick on
Pirates games, where he achieved his greatest fame.
Woods picked up his nickname of "Possum" while with the Yankees. He had a slight overbite and close-cropped gray hair. When he walked into the clubhouse fresh from a haircut,
Enos Slaughter
Enos Bradsher Slaughter (April 27, 1916 – August 12, 2002), nicknamed "Country", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He played for 19 seasons on four major league teams from 1938 to 1942 and 1946 to 1959. He is noted prima ...
sized him up and said, "I've seen better heads on a possum." Woods did not mind the name, and Prince would frequently refer to him as "Possum" or "Poss" on the air.
Woods loved his time in Pittsburgh, and especially liked working with Prince; but rightsholder
KDKA was notorious for low pay and unwilling to give him a raise, and he eventually accepted a better offer in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, where
Harry Caray
Harry Christopher Caray (; March 1, 1914 – February 18, 1998) was an American radio and television sportscaster. During his career he called the play-by-play for five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of calling the games ...
had been abruptly fired after the
1969 season.
Jack Buck
John Francis "Jack" Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous hal ...
moved into Caray's No. 1 slot, and Woods took over Buck's spot as No. 2 announcer. He always preferred the subsidiary role because he did not like to do the public relations work that came with being the primary announcer.
However, Woods and Buck did not get along, and Woods left the Cardinals after the
1971 season.
Later career
Woods moved on to the
Oakland Athletics, where he called games for the eventual world champions in
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...
and
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
. However, A's owner
Charlie Finley
Charles Oscar Finley (February 22, 1918 – February 19, 1996), nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas C ...
wanted his broadcasters to be unabashed "homers." Finley didn't think Woods rooted hard enough for the A's from the broadcast booth, and fired him after only two years. A few months later, he was hired by the
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) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
as
Ned Martin's assistant. On the same day Woods signed his contract with the Red Sox, Finley had second thoughts and asked him to come back to Oakland, but Woods turned him down.
Woods and Martin worked together from
1974 through
1978. By his own admission, Woods toned down his style considerably from his days in Pittsburgh, believing that Red Sox fans preferred their announcers to be more restrained. Despite their popularity, both were fired by the team's flagship radio station,
WITS, in the aftermath of Boston's playoff defeat at the hands of
Bucky Dent
Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent (born Russell Earl O'Dey; November 25, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager. He earned two World Series rings as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978 and ...
and the Yankees in 1978 for not cooperating fully with the team's radio sponsors. Martin remained in Boston, moving over to the TV side of Red Sox broadcasts. Although he left Martin, Boston and the Red Sox behind, Woods also switched to television, moving to
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
. His final play-by-play announcing stint was for ''
The USA Thursday Game of the Week''. Woods would remain with USA until
Eddie Doucette Eddie Doucette (born June 15, 1940) is a former television and radio sportscaster and currently the president of Doucette Promotions Inc.
Doucette was the original radio play-by-play voice of the Milwaukee Bucks, where he broadcast games for 16 ye ...
replaced him in 1982.
Death
Woods died of cancer at the age of 71 in
Seminole, Florida
Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census.
History
The first white settlement at Seminole was made in the 1840s. This community was named after the Seminole tribe whose descendant ...
. He was interred in
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
[ ]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Jim
1916 births
1988 deaths
American radio sports announcers
American television sports announcers
Boston Red Sox announcers
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Deaths from cancer in Florida
College football announcers
Iowa Hawkeyes football announcers
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Minor League Baseball broadcasters
New York Giants (NL) announcers
New York Yankees announcers
Oakland Athletics announcers
Pittsburgh Pirates announcers
Sportspeople from Kansas City, Missouri
St. Louis Cardinals announcers
United States Navy personnel of World War II
University of Missouri alumni