Death came to Frank B. Wood, retired electrician, on December 9, 1914, at age sixty-nine. In an obituary in the New York Tribune two days later-the first to my knowledge ever penned to memorialize a man notable for nothing but his allegiance to a ball club-Heywood Broun wrote: Wood was a Giant rooter at a time when the fortunes of the team were at their lowest. Nothing could dampen his optimism. Often he would seek to root his team home against leads of anywhere from 8 to 10 runs. . . . With the coming of better teams came finicky fans. To them the loyal rooting of Wood seemed just so much ti...
