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

[CantKeepmedown]

Schilling blocked me a long time ago on twitter. Have no idea what he is trending for this week. He sucks so bad.

And most of the replies on Mrs. Varitek's tweets were positive (anti-Schill). But there were more than a few "what's the big deal? He seems genuinely upset by it". Seemingly not understanding that maybe the guy with cancer wants to decide when to make this info public.

 

[FisksFinger]

Lived in Pittsburgh when Wakefield first came up with the Pirates and went on that amazing run with them. When he came to the Red Sox I never would have thought he would do it again, but he did.

Two amazing runs years apart and a great career as (what all signals tell us) a great teammate and person.

The Eovaldi situation in 2018 reminded me of Wakefield in 2003, dudes who gave us everything they had but their teams fell short. Can't ask for anything more than that from the individuals.

Hope Wakefield has a third great run in him to beat this fucking thing.

 

[AlNipper49]

back on track, only warning

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Wake was redeemed in 2004. I’m wishing him and his family the very best.

And 2007. I vividly remember Mike Timlin’s interview on the turf of Coors Field, singing Wake’s praises for all he’d done for the team, with an arm around Tim’s shoulder, both crying by the end of it.

Edit: oh hey, @opes posted a tweet of it in post 107. Dusty night here.

 

[snowmanny]

I remember during one of the NESN Jimmy Fund fundraiser games years ago, there was a father of a cancer patient on air. And he talked about how some Red Sox players - or maybe it was just Wake - were coming to visit the kids at Dana-Farber and his son didn’t get the chance to be there because he was having a long treatment or appointment or something. When the father and son got back to the room later that evening, Wakefield was there waiting for them.

I mean, we think our heroes are great, but I know we never know. But in this case I am pretty sure we know.

 

[ookami7m]

I'm trying to ignore the obvious, so heres a great clip:

<a href="View: https://twitter.com/TomJohnBrown2/status/1707397555946938452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Well it got awfully dusty watching that.

To this day, every time I pick up a baseball to throw it I try to get a knuckleball to dance anywhere close to what Wake's did. One of my all time favorite baseball players period much less member of the Sox. Fuck cancer and can only hope that his family gets all the fighting chance they deserve.

Fuck Cancer and fuck G38 too.

 

[edoug]

View: https://youtu.be/iJdBV-c0sp8

 

[PedroKsBambino]

“My biggest challenge wasn’t worrying about the final score of Game 3. It was how we were going to be positioned for Game 4. So when Wake showed up in his spikes and volunteered to eat up innings in Game 3 — and sacrifice his Game 4 start — it immediately gave me renewed energy to working toward tomorrow.’’ – Terry Francona, manager of the 2004 Red Sox

“So I got up and I went down to Tito and I said, ‘Do you need me to do anything, tonight? You need to go to the bullpen? What do you need to do?’ And he hesitated for a second, and he said, ‘Go ask Derek [Lowe] if he can start tomorrow. And Derek was still on the roster, but he wasn’t slated to do it. He wasn’t in the bullpen. He wasn’t going to be one of our starters. So I went down and I asked Derek, I said ‘D, um, Tito wants to know if you can start tomorrow,’ and he got this big grin on his face and he said, “Yeah,’’ I’m like ‘alright.’ So I ran in and I got my glove and took off for the bullpen, and was at that point obviously I got called into the game, because it was really getting out of hand. And we needed Timlin to pitch tomorrow, because that was the most important part of the bullpen, Timlin, Embree, and Keith Foulke, the last three guys… If the starter could go six, the game was over with at that point. So I went down there and tried to eat up as many innings as possible to go out and save those three guys, because they were pretty worn out from the first three games.’’

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2014/10/15/buried-alive-10-years-ago-in-game-3-the-red-sox-hit-rock-bottom/

...and that's why his teammates love him. Thank you Tim.

 

[moonshotmanny]

Wake is one of my favorite players. It is so sad. Hopefully it is treatable and makes a good recovery!

 

[Dotrat]

I always had extra affection for Wakefield because as a knuckleballer his game was not flashy or dramatic and because he always exemplified a team-first attitude, even before 2004. Wishing all the best to him, Stacy, and their loved ones. This is really sad news.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

One of the things I always remember about how respected Wake was, not just in Boston but throughout the game, was Torre's interview right after the 2004 ALCS. While saying that it was a devastating loss for him and the team, he made a point to say that it was pretty special that Tim Wakefield was going to the World Series.

Hope he and Stacy can fight through this.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

I know many people here generally despise Gerry Callahan but I occasionally listen to his podcast. Earlier today was looking at podcasts topics to pick one and saw GC was leading off with the Wakefield news so I gave it a listen for a bit. He talked about how Wake was far and away one of the largest contributors to the Jimmy Fund and how many of the celebrities were happy to show up when cameras were rolling to get that credit. But Wake would show up unannounced in his game jersey and hand out gloves or baseballs just because.

Then he told this story about how an event was taking place at the hospital and there was one kid who was Wake's biggest fan but when he got there the kid was unavailable because he was receiving treatment. Someone mentioned this to Wake.

So he went to the kid's room and waited three hours by himself until he got back.
Imagine on one of your many worst days of your life going back to your hospital bed and your favorite baseball player is just hanging out waiting for you. Not gonna lie when I listened to him tell the story there might've been some rainfall on my eyes.

 

[TonyPenaNeverJuiced]

One of the things I always remember about how respected Wake was, not just in Boston but throughout the game, was Torre's interview right after the 2004 ALCS. While saying that it was a devastating loss for him and the team, he made a point to say that it was pretty special that Tim Wakefield was going to the World Series.

Hope he and Stacy can fight through this.

Always loved that, and this anecdote from Torre in the New York Times

The exasperation at his team's collapse against the Boston Red Sox in a stunning blitz of four straight losses last October had sunk in for Joe Torre. He knew there were no more games for his Yankees, no more decisions for him and an eternity to dissect the most monumental choke in baseball history.

Torre was alone with his disappointment, staring at the black telephone on his desk. He could have called his wife for comfort or he could have called George Steinbrenner, the principal owner, for discomfort. He lifted the receiver and, surprise, called Boston pitcher Tim Wakefield instead.

"I just told him I wasn't happy," Torre said, "but I was happy for him."

In dialing the four-digit extension to the visiting clubhouse, Torre wanted to acknowledge the pitcher who had left Yankee Stadium as a loser in the previous American League Championship Series.

 

[curly2]

One of the things I always remember about how respected Wake was, not just in Boston but throughout the game, was Torre's interview right after the 2004 ALCS. While saying that it was a devastating loss for him and the team, he made a point to say that it was pretty special that Tim Wakefield was going to the World Series.

Hope he and Stacy can fight through this.

I remember that. Very classy move by Torre.

 

[BoSox Rule]

I changed the thread title at the request of a member to take the light off (Redacted38)

If a mod wants to close this thread or just delete it since we’re not even supposed to know about this that’s fine as well

 

[Al Zarilla]

View: https://youtu.be/iJdBV-c0sp8

That was great, and as always Pedro is must-see YouTube, or TV.

Praying for Tim and Stacy for full recoveries.

 

[zenax]

And to think that Schilling once used to post on SOSH.

 

[Remagellan]

Praying for Tim and Stacy to recover. That's what's important.

 

[Seels]

And to think that Schilling once used to post on SOSH.

should have been a warning sign tbh

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Thing is, it isn’t surprising. Timmy started more games than any pitcher in Red Sox history. I started tearing up thinking about how much he’s meant to the organization. We could write 2 books about his baseball career alone, but he is so so so much more. I remember being all “that’s so awesome” when he got that offer of perpetual lifetime $4M lifetime contracts (I think that’s what happened). I’ve never met any of the Sox, never even been to Fenway, but this still fucking hurts.

Going to or watching a Wakefield game was the best. When his knuckleball was on you’d get a win in under 2.5 hours and it was a joy to watch. When it wasn’t on, the game was over by the 3rd inning. We used to seek out Wakefield games to go to. Loved watching him work.

Also, fuck Schilling. Just when I thought he couldn’t be a more awful person he out does himself.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

In the vein of celebrating Wakefield, what do people think was Wakefield’s best regular season in a Sox uniform? I wasn’t following baseball in the mid-1990s so I want to figure out how his 1995 season (16-8, 2.95 ERA, 165 ERA+, 3rd in Cy Young voting / 13th in MVP) compares with his 2002 one (11-5, 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+), which is the season I think of when I think of a great Wakefield season.

 

[j-man]

my first memory of baseball was watching wakefield pitch for pitt

i hope he and his wife are ok

shill has always been like that i rem in 93 shill wouild always wear a towel over his face and act like a nutjob

 

[snowmanny]

In the vein of celebrating Wakefield, what do people think was Wakefield’s best regular season in a Sox uniform? I wasn’t following baseball in the mid-1990s so I want to figure out how his 1995 season (16-8, 2.95 ERA, 165 ERA+, 3rd in Cy Young voting / 13th in MVP) compares with his 2002 one (11-5, 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+), which is the season I think of when I think of a great Wakefield season.

You qualified that with "in a Sox uniform," but what he did in 1992 with the Pirates is noteworthy. Came up as a rookie at the end of July and went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA, then had two CG wins in the NLCS loss to the Braves.

His first two games for the 1995 Red Sox, with the SP rotation in shambles, were May 27 and May 30 (!), went 2-0 with 1 ER in 14 ip.

 

[Seels]

In the vein of celebrating Wakefield, what do people think was Wakefield’s best regular season in a Sox uniform? I wasn’t following baseball in the mid-1990s so I want to figure out how his 1995 season (16-8, 2.95 ERA, 165 ERA+, 3rd in Cy Young voting / 13th in MVP) compares with his 2002 one (11-5, 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+), which is the season I think of when I think of a great Wakefield season.

has to be 2002. The rate stats don't really tell the whole story - he had to switch between starter and reliever and starter a few different times, and held up pretty well the whole time. If only they had an actual 1b and manager.

 

[Rovin Romine]

In the vein of celebrating Wakefield, what do people think was Wakefield’s best regular season in a Sox uniform? I wasn’t following baseball in the mid-1990s so I want to figure out how his 1995 season (16-8, 2.95 ERA, 165 ERA+, 3rd in Cy Young voting / 13th in MVP) compares with his 2002 one (11-5, 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+), which is the season I think of when I think of a great Wakefield season.

It's hard to understate the excitement he brought with him in '95. The pitcher that came out of nowhere with the pure skill pitch that confounded everyone. The streak of 10 wins in a row. Making Clemens choking mediocre season irrelevant.

It was glorious.

 

[nattysez]

You qualified that with "in a Sox uniform," but what he did in 1992 with the Pirates is noteworthy. Came up as a rookie at the end of July and went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA, then had two CG wins in the NLCS loss to the Braves.

His first two games for the 1995 Red Sox, with the SP rotation in shambles, were May 27 and May 30 (!), went 2-0 with 1 ER in 14 ip.

I will never forget that. It seemed superhuman.

It's hard to understate the excitement he brought with him in '95. The pitcher that came out of nowhere with the pure skill pitch that confounded everyone. The streak of 10 wins in a row. Making Clemens choking mediocre season irrelevant.

It was glorious.

Amen.

 

[tims4wins]

Yeah look at his game log in 1995. He started 14-1 IIRC. He went deep into games. He pitched on short rest. And he dazzled.

 

[Mr Jums]

God, I just so respect Tim Wakefield. The ultimate team player in a sport that's not really about team players.

Believe it or not, one of the top 5 favorite games I ever attended was a 1-0 loss to the MFY, at Der Stade Fasciste no less. September 11, 2005.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200509110.shtml

Wake gave up a solo home run to Jason Giambi in the first inning, and that was just about all. 8 IP, 3 H , 1 BB, 12 K. 113 pitches, 77 strikes.

Sadly, that wasn't good enough. Yankee starter Randy Johnson went 7P, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 K. 100 pitches, 66 strikes. Tom Gordon got two outs in the 8th, and then Mariano got a 4-out save. The Red Sox did manage to get two men on in the 8th, and again in the 9th, but couldn't plate anybody.

Wakefield vs. Randy Johnson, and we had seats three rows off the Yankee on-deck circle so I could really see how the ball was coming out of the pitchers' hands, and how those pitches were totally confounding the batters.

I was at this game! I feel like the Giambi home run was a Yankee Stadium special (at the very least I remember it going to right). Then he just mowed them down.

Just adding to the chorus that he is/was probably my favorite Red Sox player ever. I have a bit of a root for the underdog streak so while of course you have to love Pedro/Papi/Betts et. al, he was the guy with the idiosyncratic pitch who you never knew what you were going to get but when he caught fire he was absolutely unhittable. Also the only Red Sox player I've ever met, he came to Boston Children's Hospital when they turned one of their MRI rooms into a facsimile of Fenway park and he came to visit it, and I was just a doofy assistant in another department who came by and he took the time to talk to me which he very much did not need to do.

Between the meeting him, the underdog story, and the multiple stories about what a great guy he is, I mean to put it into perspective, I remember thinking during his playing career that he was the one player who if he had gone to the Yankees, I would have rooted for him even against the Red Sox. Rooting hard for both him and Stacy.

 

[GreenMonster49]

You qualified that with "in a Sox uniform," but what he did in 1992 with the Pirates is noteworthy. Came up as a rookie at the end of July and went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA, then had two CG wins in the NLCS loss to the Braves.

His first two games for the 1995 Red Sox, with the SP rotation in shambles, were May 27 and May 30 (!), went 2-0 with 1 ER in 14 ip.

I am going to vote here for 1995 being the better season (even though what Wakefield did in 2002 was remarkable). He essentially pitched every 5th day (except for one time he got 5 days' rest, the one time [between his first and second starts] he had 2 days' rest, and two times at the end of the season that he got 3 days' rest.

Here is a stem-and leaf plot of his IP per start (start of the row is the whole number of innings, and numbers in the row reflect thirds of an inning):
3. 0
4.
5. 01
6. 10000
7. 010011000
8. 0101
9. 00000
10. 0

When you are eating innings like that and still put up a 165+ ERA, you earned your MVP votes. In 24/27 starts he got the team into the 7th inning, and he had 6 of the team's 7 complete games.

 

[tims4wins]

First 17 starts, 1995:
15-2 team record
14-1 personal record
131 IP (7.7 per start!!!)
98 H
37 BB
1.06 WHIP
1.65 ERA

I mean those are like Pedro numbers.

 

[TFisNEXT]

In the vein of celebrating Wakefield, what do people think was Wakefield’s best regular season in a Sox uniform? I wasn’t following baseball in the mid-1990s so I want to figure out how his 1995 season (16-8, 2.95 ERA, 165 ERA+, 3rd in Cy Young voting / 13th in MVP) compares with his 2002 one (11-5, 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+), which is the season I think of when I think of a great Wakefield season.

1995 IMHO. I remember that vividly too when he came out of nowhere. I think that’s part of what makes his ‘95 season more special. He did have a better ERA+ and more innings pitched anyway that year so the objective stats say that’s his best season but the way he did it was especially exciting. As others already posted, Clemens was having kind of a shit year, they had already lost Aaron Sele for the season, and Wakefield not only holds his own, but absolutely was unhittable for most of that season before the rough late August/September.

IIRC I think he took a no-hitter into the 8th at the metrodom and then lost it in some crappily hit ball.

He was a huge reason they surprisingly won the AL East that year

 

[joe dokes]

First 17 starts, 1995:
15-2 team record
14-1 personal record
131 IP (7.7 per start!!!)
98 H
37 BB
1.06 WHIP
1.65 ERA

I mean those are like Pedro numbers.

Off the top of my head, I remember a 10-inning performance for 11 or 12 in a row. Now I'm gonna find it.
Edit...
It was the 3rd in a row. After two 7inning gems, He went 10 to beat Seattle, and really launched the whole wakemania.

 

[tims4wins]

Off the top of my head, I remember a 10-inning performance for 11 or 12 in a row. Now I'm gonna find it.
Edit...
It was the 3rd in a row. After two 7inning gems, He went 10 to beat Seattle, and really launched the whole wakemania.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS199506040.shtml

 

[strek1]

Prayers for TIM. A Sox favorite and a giant of a human being. He's done so much to help so many.

 

[joe dokes]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS199506040.shtml

Yep. Wake error in T10. Oleary 2runHR to win in bottom. For me, anyway, that was the game that said "not a fluke."

 

[Pitt the Elder]

Terrible news about Wake. One of my favorite Sox, I'm hoping for the best for him and his wife.

And Wake was a revelation in 1995. When he was on his run, I remember there was some chatter he might run the Cy Young before he faded down the stretch.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

First 17 starts, 1995:
15-2 team record
14-1 personal record
131 IP (7.7 per start!!!)
98 H
37 BB
1.06 WHIP
1.65 ERA

I mean those are like Pedro numbers.

thanks for sharing about tims14wins

 

[JOBU]

This sucks. There’s probably like a million New England kids that grew up between 1995 and 2010 that learned how to throw a knuckleball because of Wake. I was one of them.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

I was a catcher in high school, but tried so hard to develop a knuckleball because of Tim. I thought it was my only way to keep playing. Absolute class act. He’s beaten the odds before, and I have faith he can do it again. Few pro athletes are genuinely good people, and he’s one of them

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

3. 0

Funny enough, this is one of those early, fully-formed, “I’m actually a baseball fan” moments for me. I was 13, spending the night at my grandmother’s, and stayed up for the late game on TV from Seattle (It was probably on a local station, but back then, my family didn’t have cable so the only Boston station we got with rabbit ears was WFXT). He gives up a first-inning grand slam to Mike Blowers, and a three-run jack to Blowers again in the third to give him the earliest shower of the season. I don’t think there’s any shame in that kind of performance (that ‘95 Mariners lineup was nuts and the Kingdome was a bandbox), and obviously there were still some great moments to come.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

That 95 team was just so fun. Coming off the lockout / strike, it was a hodgepodge collection of players, so many of whom were only Sox for just that year, they overperformed and made the playoffs which, as a Sox fan back then, was such an accomplishment. I have so many fond memories of everyone on that team and Wake was such a huge part.

 

[Marciano490]

Another thing I always liked about Tim - whenever you’d read about a young knuckleballer - male or female - there’d be a blurb about how Wakefield had worked with or given advise to them.

 

[zenax]

Wakefield played 44 games at first and 18 G as pitcher (1 start) in the minors in 1988 and played a few games at various infield spots in his second year.

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

First 17 starts, 1995:
15-2 team record
14-1 personal record
131 IP (7.7 per start!!!)
98 H
37 BB
1.06 WHIP
1.65 ERA

I mean those are like Pedro numbers.

And 1995 wasn't quite peak steroid-era MLB offense, but it was getting there

 

[tims4wins]

And 1995 wasn't quite peak steroid-era MLB offense, but it was getting there

Tell that to Albert Belle and his 50-50 in 143 games

 

[TFisNEXT]

Yep. Wake error in T10. Oleary 2runHR to win in bottom. For me, anyway, that was the game that said "not a fluke."

I remember that game as being “maybe this O’Leary dude isn’t a fluke”. He had been hitting well up to that point but had shows signs of tailing off and then that walkoff HR seemed to ignite another big hot streak.

That ‘95 team was super fun with the combo of newer guys that would serve as a bridge into the Pedro years (O’Leary, Wake, Reggie Jefferson, etc) and some of the old guard still there.

 

[TFisNEXT]

Tell that to Albert Belle and his 50-50 in 143 games

That was the first time in my young life that I felt the MVP award was kind of fraudulent even though I was super happy that Mo Vaughn won it. Even as a ridiculous Red Sox homer, it was so obvious Belle was on another level that season than the competition.

 

[moondog80]

I’ll always remember when Joe Torre was asked about the disappointment after game 7 of the 2004 ALCS and he said something to the effect of “of course it’s a bad feeling, but then you think about a guy like Tim Wakefield in the other locker room…”. I always liked Torre after that. Or hated him a little less, at least.

 

[SJMDownunder]

This sucks. There’s probably like a million New England kids that grew up between 1995 and 2010 that learned how to throw a knuckleball because of Wake. I was one of them.

 

[SJMDownunder]

Kind of irrelevant, but I was a college catcher. We had a guy, not on the team, who did throw a great, if inconsistent, knuckleball. I remember getting hit in the head a few times, in the leg, on the arm and in the balls. Done well, it’s an amazing pitch. As others have said, I used to seek out Wake’s starts. Now I just wish the best for him an his family.