» June 1, 1995: The California Angels select Nebraska OF Darin Erstad with the 1st pick in the amateur draft. He'll sign for a $1.6 bonus, the highest signing bonus to date. Picking next, the Padres take high school C Ben Davis, and the Mariners pick Jose Cruz, Jr. The Cubs follow with Texas high schooler Kerry Wood. The 5th pick, P Ariel Prieto, will debut with the A's on July 5. Picking 7th, the Rangers pass over Todd Helton to take P Jonathan Johnson. Picking next, Colorado takes Helton. The Brewers take future starting OF Geoff Jenkins in the first round, but the rest of their picks will be busts. Sean Casey goes to the Indians on round 2, and the Royals take Carlos Beltran on the same round. Gabe Kapler goes to the Tigers on the 57th round. The Mets strike out in the first round (18th) with SS Ryan Jaroncyk; picking in the same spot four years ago they took OF Al Shirley.

» August 24, 1996: Cubs' minor leaguer Kerry Wood of Daytona combines on his 2nd no-hitter, a 3–0 win over Vero Beach. Wood goes eight innings, and he pitched seven innings of no-hit ball on July 28 against Tampa.

» April 30, 1998: The Cubs record their 1,000th win over the Cardinals, winning 8–3 behind Kerry Wood. Mark McGwire hits his 11th, off Marc Pisciotta in the 8th.

» May 6, 1998: In one of the finest pitching efforts ever, Chicago Cub rookie righthander Kerry Wood fans 20 Houston Astros in a 2–0, one-hit victory to tie the major league mark for strikeouts in a 9-inning game. Making only his 5th big league start, the 20-year-old ties the record held by Roger Clemens, who performed the feat twice. Wood does not walk a batter in his masterpiece, allowing only an infield single to Ricky Gutierrez in the 3rd inning, that likely would have been an error had it occurred late in the game. The 20-year-old Wood became the 2nd pitcher in baseball history whose strikeout total matched his age (Bob Feller struck out 17 when he was 17-years-old). Wood struck out the first five batters of the game and struck out seven in a row between the 7th and 9th innings, a streak that ties Jamie Moyer's Cubs record.

» May 11, 1998: Cubs rookie Kerry Wood strikes out 13 Diamondbacks in just seven innings of a 4–2 win over Arizona. By doing so, Wood sets a major league record with 33 strikeouts over two consecutive games.

» July 21, 1998: Kerry Wood outduels Greg Maddux as the Cubs defeat the Braves before a sellout crowd. Woods strikes out 11 in seven 2/3 innings, the 6th time in 18 starts he's reached double figures. For Maddux (13–4), it is his first loss to his former team after seven wins.

» November 6, 1998: Cubs fireballer Kerry Wood, with a 13–6 record, wins the National League Rookie of the Year award. Wood held batters to a NL best .196 average and was 3rd in the NL in strikeouts with 233 in just 166 2/3 innings.

» February 3, 1999: The Astros avoided arbitration with P Billy Wagner by signing him to a 3–year contract worth $10.5 million. Wagner set a major league record with 14.55 SO/9 innings pitched in 1998 (minimum: 50 IP. Meanwhile, Kerry Wood set the major league record with 12.58 SO/9 IP for pitchers who qualified for the ERA title.).

» March 16, 1999: National League Rookie of the Year Kerry Wood suffers a ligament tear in his right elbow. It will require surgery that will keep him out of action until 2000.

» October 8, 1999: Cubs P Kerry Wood reveals that he has a dime-size hole in his heart. The condition, known as atria septal defect, will eventually have to be treated, but his baseball career should not be affected. He will be throwing off a mound in December.

» May 2, 2000: In Kerry Wood's comeback game following surgery, the fireballer sets down Houston for six innings, allowing three hits and one run. The Cubs make it easy, scoring 10 runs in the first five innings. Wood helps himself with one of three Cubs homers.

» September 12, 2000: The Cubs Kerry Wood pitches his 2nd career CG, winning 2–1 over Reds. Two unearned do in Osvaldo Fernandez.

» April 15, 2001: The Cubs complete a sweep of Pirates as Kerry Wood strikes out 10 in a 5-1 win.

» April 27, 2001: Kerry Wood strikes out 14 in the Cubs' 7-3 win over San Francisco.

» May 8, 2001: Diamondbacks flamethrower Randy Johnson strikes out 20 Reds in Arizona's 4-3 win over Cincinnati in 11 innings. Johnson gets all 20 in his nine innings of work, but does not tie Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood's record since the contest goes into extra frames. The Reds score two in the top of the 11th, but the D'Backs come back with 3, scoring the winning run on a bases loaded walk by reliever Danny Graves.

» May 13, 2001: Diamondbacks P Randy Johnson strikes out 12 to match Luis Tiant's mark of 32 K's in two straight games. The major league record is 33, by Kerry Wood. It's Big Unit's 6th game in a row with 10+ strikeouts. Arizona beats the Phillies, 6–1.

» May 25, 2001: More one-hitters. At Wrigley, the Cubs edge the Brewers, 1-0, on Kerry Wood's one-hitter. Mark Loretta's single in the 7th is the only Milwaukee hit. Wood strikes out 14. The Cubs staff has now thrown back-to-back one hitters: it was last done by the Rangers, in 1996, when Ken Hill and Roger Pavlik did it.

» June 17, 2001: The Cubs edge Minnesota, 5–4 for their 13th straight home win and a sweep of the 3-game series with the Twins. Kerry Wood wins over Brad Radke. Ricky Gutierrez again leads the way with a home run, the 3rd straight game he's gone deep. Sosa scores his 1,000th career run, a mark he's already topped in RBIs.

» June 22, 2001: At Wrigley, Milwaukee beats the Cubs and Kerry Wood, 2–1, snapping Chicago's home win streak at 12 games, their longest win streak since 1936. It's their first loss since May 18, snapping their longest win streak since 1936. James Mouton's infield single in the 9th drives home the winner.

» August 20, 2001: Kerry Wood has an MRI that comes out clean, but the Cubs ace will miss a month with tendinitis in his shoulder.

» September 2, 2002: The Cubs beat the Brewers, 17–4, to salvage a split in their doubleheader after Milwaukee takes the opener by a score of 4–2 on solo homers by Ron Belliard (2), Eric Young and Jose Hernandez. Glendon Rusch wins his 8th straight over the Cubs. Chicago P Kerry Wood ties a major-league record in the second game by fanning four Brewers in the 4th inning. Wood also homers off Andrew Lorraine, one of five gophers he serves up. Another is Sammy Sosa's 494th homer, moving him ahead of Lou Gehrig on the all-time list.

» September 29, 2002: The Cubs fire manager Bruce Kimm, who took over from Don Baylor on July 5. Kimm requested that the announcement be made prior to the game, a 7–3 Cubs win. Kerry Wood (12-12) strikes out nine in six innings, and the Cub relievers add six more. The Cubs end the season leading the majors in strikeouts by batters (1,269) and pitchers (1,333), the first team to accomplish the feat since Boston (UA) in 1884. Sammy Sosa hits his 49th to lead the NL; it is 499th career homer (45 have come in starts by Wood). Pluses for the Bucs include two homers, one by Tony Alvarez, his first in the majors. Josh Fogg (12-12) sets a modern club record for starts by a rookie (33); Sam Leever had 39 in 1899.