John Woods

John Fulton Woods (January 18, 1898 – October 4, 1946) was a professional baseball pitcher and police officer. He appeared in one game in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox during the 1924 season. Listed at , . During his career, Woods batted and threw right-handed. Born in Princeton, West Virginia, Woods played college baseball at West Virginia University for the Mountaineers. After briefly attending law school, he was signed by the Red Sox and pitched one inning in his only MLB game, an 8–4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on September 16, 1924. He gave up no runs but walked three batters. Woods then played minor league baseball before joining the Norfolk Police Department in 1929. He became the chief of the department in 1939, serving in that capacity for the rest of his life until he was killed while responding to an auto accident in 1946. Early life John Fulton Woods was born to Judge John Hugh Gordon Woods and Margaret Peck Woods on January 18, 1898, in Princeton, West Virginia. He and his twin brother, Carl, had three older siblings and one younger sister. Raised near the East River, he went to the Knob Street School for eight years and graduated from the East River District High School. In 1970, his widow told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Woods starred in baseball, basketball, and track and field while in high school. College After completing high school, Woods worked as a timekeeper for the Virginian Railway while living in Princeton in 1918, then served briefly in the United States Army through a collaboration with Washington and Lee University. Woods enrolled at West Virginia University in 1920, playing college baseball for the Mountaineers from his freshman year through the 1923 season. His father wanted him to study law, and he began law school but stopped in 1924 in order to pursue a professional baseball career by attending spring training with the Boston Red Sox.