Paying Respect to Tim Wakefield

Former Major League Pitcher lost his battle with cancer on Sept. 30, 2023

Last weekend, on the final day of the baseball regular season – long-time Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield passed away, after a battle with brain cancer. He was just 57.

We, the general public, had no idea about his illness – that is until Curt Schilling broke the news. Without the family’s approval. Three days before he passed.

But I’m not here to talk about Schilling – the social media pariah, or even the Schilling who spent 2 seasons with the Elmira Pioneers of the New York Penn league.

This is about Wakefield, who also got his start in the NY-PENN league, with the Watertown Pirates. A chap named Bill Pucko once made baseball cards, and was the first to feature Wakefield in a set.

Back then, Tim was a struggling outfielder – who had a knuckleball he used to throw around when playing catch. Enter pitching coach Spin Williams. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Wakefield finished 3rd in the rookie of the year ballot in 1992 when he went 8 – 1 with 2.15 ERA. for Pittsburgh He dominated the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, going 2 – 0 with 2 complete games.

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After a rough 1993, Wakefield found himself with Boston in 1995. He won 16 games, and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting.

His career from there was like his most famous pitch – unpredictable, with lots of ups and downs. But there was one constant – Wakefield himself. For 17 years, he was, as teammate Jason Varitek said, the embodiment of the Red Sox.

Wake won exactly 200 games in his career, pitching until the age of 46. He was a part of 2 world series champions. He might be most remembered for the walk-off HR he allowed to Aaron middle-name-withheld Boone, in the 2003 ALCS. Many remember that, but forget he won 2 games that series and dominated the Yankees over 14 innings.

Tim’s baseball legacy stands on its own – he wasn’t a hall of famer, he often was a 4th or 5th starter – but he was beloved by his teammates, and was an ambassador for the game of baseball.

No one would have predicted the career Tim had when he was a then 21-year outfielder hitting .189 in Watertown. The knuckleball is a pitch that you can’t predict. Sometimes, you just have to wait-and-see where it lands.