span. A lifelong New England resident, Wood held a number of jobs in the Boston area after his retirement from baseball. Early life Wilbur Forrester Wood, Jr., was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 22, 1941. His parents were Wilbur Sr., a wholesale foods employee, and Svea (née Swenson). Young Wilbur grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, with his younger brother, Jimmy. The brothers were athletic and would play sports year-round. Wood attended Belmont High School, where he played in three different sports: baseball, as a pitcher; football, as the starting quarterback; and hockey, as a defenseman. His father, a semipro baseball player, taught him how to throw a knuckleball while he was in high school, but Wood relied on his fastball and curveball in actual games. Using just two pitches, he helped the baseball team win the state championship in 1959 (his junior year), and he finished his high school career with a 24–2 record. He also played for American Legion Post 99, winning 42 games. According to Bill Stone, Wood's high school baseball coach, about 50 colleges wanted the prospect for one sport or another. Wood, however, wanted to play professional baseball, and he was drawing interest from the St. Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Braves, and the Boston Red Sox. The Braves paid for him to fly to Milwaukee for a tryout, where minor league director Roland Hemond was unimpressed. "He was a chubby little guy who didn’t throw very hard. I watched him throw batting practice (and) couldn’t get very excited." The Red Sox, however, hoped to boost ticket sales by having a hometown prospect turn into a sensation. They offered a significant bonus (reportedly from $25,000 to $50,000), and Wood accepted their offer. "I wanted to play for the Red Sox," Wood said of his hometown team in a 1989 interview, "but at that point I wanted the club that offered me the most amount of bonus money." Professional career Boston Red Sox (1961–64) Wood began his professional career in 1960 with the Class D Waterloo Hawks of the Midwest League. He won his only decision in four games with the club, posting a 2.70 earned run average (ERA) before getting promoted to the Raleigh Capitals of the Class B Carolina League. With Raleigh, he had a 3–5 record and a 3.84 ERA in 13 games (12 starts). After the season, Boston added him to its 40-man