Tim Wakefield has passed away from brain cancer at 57 (10/1 update)

StupendousMan

StupendousMan

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Jul 20, 2005
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I received one as well. It humbles me to think of how much thought Stacy and the family have put into their responses to a bunch of remote identities they've never met. I wish I could be as gracious in a similar situation -- but I doubt I would be.

Thanks, Stacy, for setting an example I can try to follow.
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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The Red Sox will wear "49" patches on their uniforms this season / several twitter reports
 
deythur

deythur

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Jul 15, 2005
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Mass produced or not I was moved (tears) when I received mine. I plan on framing it with my pic of me and Wake that was taken just a few months prior. It's a small thing but he meant so much to me as a Sox fan and I will cherish the 49 card forever. As far as I know Stacy is is still fighting her own fight with pancreatic cancer which makes all of it worse. @StupendousMan said it best. A great example we can all strive to follow.
 
C

Clell Lavern Butch Hobson

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Feb 22, 2024
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I still struggle when I think that Tim isn't around anymore. Maybe it was because he couldn't throw 95 that he always seemed like the 'everyman' of the Red Sox. Between that and his commitment to the community made him the most relatable Sox player ever. I'm sure this has all been said before.
 
21st Century Sox

21st Century Sox

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Feb 19, 2006
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I have been meaning to post here for awhile, the Larry Lucchino news served as a reminder. Tim, Stacey and Larry were all huger supporters of Dana Farber, received treatment there, and clearly their is a void left by the deaths of all three.

I started to ride the Pan Mass Challenge when my daughter in law was diagnosed with Brain Cancer. She lived with my son in Charlestown at the time, and was and is being treated at DFI. She has the slowest growing type of brain cancer, and after 9 hour surgery/12 months chemo/3 months radiation, is doing very well. Initially told they likely could not conceive, (they were engaged when she had a seizure and they found the cancer) she indeed had a healthy baby boy who is a little over two years old now. In honor of her, this will be ride #7 for me.

Fast forward to this January - welp - My wife of 35+ years was diagnosed with breast cancer. Wildly, she has two different types of cancer in one breast. She is undergoing chemo now at DFI, 3/4 of the way done. Very exciting on Monday, the more "minor" of the cancers is resolved and gone by the chemo, the lump she has, while pretty small, is also shrinking. She will have surgery post chemo, we are very optimstic.

Anyhow, that's my story. My thought of posting here is that I thought people might want to make a donation to the PMC in honor of Wake, Stacy, or Larry. I am going to link to my donation page, but of course donate to any rider if you know one personally. The PMC is truly the lifeblood of Dana Farber, 100% of donations go to research. The largest athletic fundraiser in the world. Roughly $75 Million will be raised at this years ride, and this year will also cross $1 BILLION in funds raised, When cancer is eventually cured, or extremely mitigated, the PMC will be part of Chapter One of the books written about cures.

Here is my link, again, donate here, or donate to anyone you might now who is participating, it truly is a special event. Thanks for reading.

Why I Ride ... (pmc.org)
 
Steve Dillard

Steve Dillard

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Oct 7, 2003
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And super meaningful to Papelbon, too, judging from the tattoo below it. Seems he was as genuinely liked by all of his teammates
 
Andy Merchant

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Aug 2, 2010
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21st Century Sox said:
I have been meaning to post here for awhile, the Larry Lucchino news served as a reminder. Tim, Stacey and Larry were all huger supporters of Dana Farber, received treatment there, and clearly their is a void left by the deaths of all three.

I started to ride the Pan Mass Challenge when my daughter in law was diagnosed with Brain Cancer. She lived with my son in Charlestown at the time, and was and is being treated at DFI. She has the slowest growing type of brain cancer, and after 9 hour surgery/12 months chemo/3 months radiation, is doing very well. Initially told they likely could not conceive, (they were engaged when she had a seizure and they found the cancer) she indeed had a healthy baby boy who is a little over two years old now. In honor of her, this will be ride #7 for me.

Fast forward to this January - welp - My wife of 35+ years was diagnosed with breast cancer. Wildly, she has two different types of cancer in one breast. She is undergoing chemo now at DFI, 3/4 of the way done. Very exciting on Monday, the more "minor" of the cancers is resolved and gone by the chemo, the lump she has, while pretty small, is also shrinking. She will have surgery post chemo, we are very optimstic.

Anyhow, that's my story. My thought of posting here is that I thought people might want to make a donation to the PMC in honor of Wake, Stacy, or Larry. I am going to link to my donation page, but of course donate to any rider if you know one personally. The PMC is truly the lifeblood of Dana Farber, 100% of donations go to research. The largest athletic fundraiser in the world. Roughly $75 Million will be raised at this years ride, and this year will also cross $1 BILLION in funds raised, When cancer is eventually cured, or extremely mitigated, the PMC will be part of Chapter One of the books written about cures.

Here is my link, again, donate here, or donate to anyone you might now who is participating, it truly is a special event. Thanks for reading.

Why I Ride ... (pmc.org)
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Hope your wife's treatment is going well. Good luck on the ride!
 
21st Century Sox

21st Century Sox

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774
Thanks Andy! Also, a big thank you to the SoSH'ers who have donated thus far to the PMC. GREAT CAUSE. (I can still take donations if the spirit moves you)

Happy to report that my wife is doing very well. She is a week out from bilateral mastectomy, and it went as well as it could. The visiting nurse said best surgical work that she has ever seen. The results were excellent, we have a meeting on 6/5 for final pathology, but moving towards "cancer free" diagnosis. She is doing rehab exercises, focusing on vacation at the cape post PMC, and just how fast she can get herself on the golf course. Lots of sleepless nights for sure, but things improving by the day. Thanks all who pm'd and asked, much appreciated.
 
The Gray Eagle

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This weekend Matt Waldron of the Padres will be throwing knuckleballs in Fenway Park. He grew up a fan of the Red Sox and Wakefield, and when he was a young minor leaguer, Tim Wakefield did video meetings with him to help him with his knuckler.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5597614/2024/06/28/matt-waldron-tim-wakefield-knuckleball-fenway/

Tim Wakefield, the most prominent knuckleballer of his generation, was on the other end of a Zoom call that had been arranged by Steve Lyons, then the San Diego Padres’ director of pitching development. Waldron, who grew up a Boston Red Sox fan, remembers feeling nervous. But only at the start.
“Once I saw just what a nice guy he was,” Waldron said, “it was very enjoyable.”
The call lasted two hours as Wakefield, Waldron and Lyons discussed finger pressure, mechanics and routines. Another video conference followed several weeks later and went roughly as long. Wakefield had watched footage from recent Fort Wayne TinCaps games. He wanted to hear about a little-known minor leaguer’s progress with the knuckleball.
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Wake loved making hitters look stupid with his slow pitch.
In their first Zoom call, Wakefield told Waldron that, throughout a 19-year career, he had relished making opposing hitters “look as stupid as possible.” In their second virtual meeting, Wakefield said he was impressed by Waldron’s recent minor-league outings and his knuckleball velocity. (Waldron typically throws the pitch in the upper 70s. Wakefield relied almost exclusively on sub-70 flutterers.)
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It's cool that because Tim was a great guy who was willing to help out an obscure minor leaguer, he will be part of the knuckler being thrown at Fenway again.
Friday, Waldron will attend his first-ever game at Fenway Park. And this weekend, he will fulfill another dream.
“I’m hoping to feel that presence or whatever you want to say,” Waldron said. “Just how the world goes around, kind of. I want to experience it all.”
He is scheduled to start Sunday on the mound the late Wakefield called home.
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The article then goes on to talk about Don Orsillo (who will be returning to Fenway this weekend as well) and how Wake helped him out too.

In 2001, his first year as the television voice of the Red Sox, Orsillo found himself agonizing through his dream job.
“I was very stiff,” the New Hampshire native recalled. “I was very tight. I was very nervous.”
Then, in a series of casual conversations that summer, Wakefield commended Orsillo for his sense of humor and suggested a potential solution: a New England Sports Network commercial in which the veteran pitcher would work out the rookie announcer. Taken aback by Wakefield’s generosity, Orsillo agreed.
The resulting product helped bring Orsillo out of his shell and remake his image overnight. He went on to a 15-year run as a beloved Red Sox broadcaster, and he still credits Wakefield’s gesture as an unmistakable influence on his career.
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Wake works out Announcer Boy:
View: https://twitter.com/DonOrsillo/status/1708743906752606275


“To me, it’s No. 1 if I had to point to something,” Orsillo said. “I have to say that my (late Red Sox broadcast) partner Jerry Remy helped me a great deal. But he couldn’t bring that side of me out at the time because I wasn’t ready. It took Tim Wakefield. It took a player of his ilk and that status in Boston to say ‘Hey, you can do this’ and believe in me, and I was just so amazed that a player would even care to do that.”
Click to expand...
 
Sin Duda

Sin Duda

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The Gray Eagle said:
This weekend Matt Waldron of the Padres will be throwing knuckleballs in Fenway Park. He grew up a fan of the Red Sox and Wakefield, and when he was a young minor leaguer, Tim Wakefield did video meetings with him to help him with his knuckler.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5597614/2024/06/28/matt-waldron-tim-wakefield-knuckleball-fenway/



Wake loved making hitters look stupid with his slow pitch.


It's cool that because Tim was a great guy who was willing to help out an obscure minor leaguer, he will be part of the knuckler being thrown at Fenway again.


The article then goes on to talk about Don Orsillo (who will be returning to Fenway this weekend as well) and how Wake helped him out too.



Wake works out Announcer Boy:
View: https://twitter.com/DonOrsillo/status/1708743906752606275
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This is one of the greatest things I've seen on SoSH this year! Thanks so much for sharing it, Gray Eagle!
 
worm0082

worm0082

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Sep 19, 2002
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JFC, that’s horrible. The kids whole family is basically gone within months. This is so heartbreaking.
 
HomeRunBaker

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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opes said:
I wonder how the kids are doing.
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Can’t even imagine losing Mother, Father and two relatively young grandparents in the same year. This is the stuff that truly makes you strong enough to handle anything or break you. Hopefully for them it is the former.
 
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