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Bob Wood, 84, accepted the award.
His son, 58-year-old Rob Wood, snapped away with his disposable camera.
Smokey Joe Wood, Bob's father and Rob's grandfather, would have been proud. He died in 1985 when he was 95.
Baseball. From one generation to the next.
Monte Irvin, a Negro Leagues star many in the 1940s thought would be the guy to break baseball's color barrier, talked about the late Ted Williams and Fidel Castro, whom he met long before the man would become a Cuban dictator.
Luis Tiant, the famed pitcher with the unmistakable body twist, rose to chants of "Luis! Luis." He spoke of his love for the game. And of the fans.
Tampa Bay outfielder Rocco Baldelli and Mets first baseman Jason Phillips had the look of nervous kids, not of players who in the blink of an eye likely will join baseball's millionaire club.
Sunday's Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame inductions ceremony brought them all together.
"This is great," said Bob Wood, who lives in New Hampshire.
Wood told a story handed down from his father, a famed pitcher with the Red Sox in the early 20th century.
"Cy Young told (his dad) and Tris Speaker, "You two guys really need to get a nickname," Wood said. He was told a sportswriter helped coin "Smokey Joe."
In the movie Field of Dreams, the character of Archie Graham, upon arriving at the magical field built in the cornfield, says: "Hey, that's Smokey Joe Wood! And Mel Ott! And Gil Hodges!"
"Smokey Joe is a name people remember," Wood said.
Rob Wood came down from Pennsylvania.
As one man after the other accepted their respective awards, he positioned himself for the perfect photo.
"It's fantastic being with all these people and having the sense that my grandfather was remembered," he said.
Irvin said he had waited a long time to be inducted into the Hall. This from a man enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame 31 years ago. "I'm very, very delighted," Irvin said. "Ted and I became very good friends."
Irvin showed off a sharp memory. He spoke of facing a great Cuban pitcher back in the day, a man who just happened to be Tiant's father.
Dom DiMaggio, too sick to attend last year's event, looked great. Joltin' Joe's brother was a fair player himself. Not to mention a close friend of Williams.
DiMaggio told a story of what might have been if Williams were alive. It involved politics, the Bush family, Democratic presidential candidates, and Williams' ability to control every conversation and win every argument. "I can hear him bellowing," the Little Professor said.
Between oohs and ahhs, the Hall took time to honor Citrus High School graduate Aaron Weaver, who died when the military helicopter in which he was riding crashed last month in Iraq. His father, Mike, fought back tears, ever gracious and thankful that so many had remembered his son.
The moment served as a reminder.
This game is just a game.
- Keith Niebuhr can be reached at 860-7337 or online at niebuhr@sptimes.com