18 years ago, Kerry Wood struck out 20 hitters and rendered the letter 'K' meaningless

On May 6, 1998, Kerry Wood was 20 years old. He was less than a month into his MLB career and making his fifth start for the Cubs. Facing off against the Astros, Wood struck out 20 batters, tying the MLB record for the most in a nine-inning game.

You know how when you say a word over and over again, it loses all meaning? 18 years ago, Kerry Wood did that to the letter K.

That means there were only seven outs in the entire game that weren't strikeouts.

In 1998, the average number of strikeouts per nine innings was 6.61 -- Wood more than tripled that.

He struck out the side four times.

Really, it's a wonder that the letter K even exists anymore, considering Wood exhausted the English language's supply. 

This post was originally published on May 6, 2016, and has been updated.