In Memoriam Tim Wakefield

[GabeTravels]

A great man, a great pitcher. This sucks.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

https://x.com/tylermilliken_/status/1708560238616490263?s=46&t=ghGt87HeUh2T-Er6ePe05g

Youk with a heartfelt tribute.

 

[Mad-Marcus]

Life can and will often be so cruel. RIP to an all time great Sox. "F" Cancer, took my dad, my brother and a year of my life.

 

[LSCII]

Rest in Peace Wake. You were by all accounts a great teammate, dad, husband, and person. The good ones always leave too soon.

f*** Curt Schilling for adding unneeded stress to him and his family as he was in the end stages of cancer. Such an incredible piece of shit to do that to them.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

https://x.com/soxbooth/status/1708566177058791508?s=46&t=ghGt87HeUh2T-Er6ePe05g

Lou on Wake.

 

[Alicat]

 

[Fenian24]

This is horrible. Thank you Tim Wakefield.

F*** Cancer

 

[Bocephus86]

I've always been a Wakefield fan, and still give a him a ton of credit for 2004 when he came out of the bullpen a few times for huge appearances. But I'd rather share a tiny little story about what kind of person he was.

Wakefield lived in my home town, and my mother was high up in town government at the time. He used to come in every year to work through his town bills (I'll try to be vague). My mother didn't know it was him the first year. No do you know who I am, not trying to be a big shot, just wanted to make sure everything was settled as he 'worked out of state a lot'. It wasn't until the second year my mother figured out who he was, asking him if he pitched for the Red Sox, and got a pennant signed for me.

She dealt with the public a lot and how he treated them all stuck out to her before she even realized who he was. I'd say that rep as a great guy sounds just about right.

 

[FrankerC]

Oh wow, in complete shock. The news from the other day and now this. As I said the other day, Wakefield was the first pitcher I ever tried to imitate as a child and was also my 1st Red Sox game. He was such a huge leader and I'm so glad all the negativity he got after '03 was forgotten after '04. RIP Wake.

 

[Fenway]

 

[McGarnagle]

One of the best games I've ever been to was game 4 of the 2003 ALDS. Tim Hudson left after an inning after he allegedly got into a bar fight the night before the game, and John Burkett ran out of gas, so for a while in the middle of the game it turned into a knuckleball duel between Steve Sparks and Tim Wakefield. Eventually Ortiz won it with a clutch RBI double off Keith Foulke. But I remember the Wakefield-Sparks portion of the game distinctly.

 

[GlenFeatherstone]

This is one of those athletes that dies that just guts you. RIP Wake. Thank you and rest easy.

 

[mobilus]

RIP Mr. Wakefield. I loved watching him pitch.

 

[Alicat]

Took these at Red Sox Winter Weekend in 2018. Wake, Tek and John Farrell did a panel on the 2007 Sox. I'll never forget Wake's smile.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Rest in Peace Wake. You were by all accounts a great teammate, dad, husband, and person. The good ones always leave too soon.

f*** Curt Schilling for adding unneeded stress to him and his family as he was in the end stages of cancer. Such an incredible piece of shit to do that to them.

Can we just not mention the name of the selfish attention getter whose first name rhymes with Hurt in this thread and just salute Tim please?

 

[bb74]

RIP to a tremendous person and my sincere best wishes to his family for health and happiness as they recover from this and what they were already dealing with.

 

[Alicat]

 

[Johnnyduke]

With Remy we all knew that day was coming. This one is stunning to me. When he did games this season you wouldn't have suspected anything. And now he's gone. Just like that. When the news hit the other day my first thought was he'll beat it and be at opening day. One of the most popular non star players that I can remember. Never did or said anything that wasn't professional. Tough to accept.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Didn’t get to Fenway until 1999. It was a day game Tim Wakefield was the starting pitcher.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Incredibly sad news and unexpected.

Always felt like an underdog story with the knuckleball as his arsenal.

 

[Alicat]

Didn’t get to Fenway until 1999. It was a day game Tim Wakefield was the starting pitcher.

I always seemed to go to games where Wake pitched especially if it was early in the season or raining. He was just magic in the cold and damp weather.

I'll never forget when they brought back Mirabelli with a police escort and he arrived just in time to catch Wake.

 

[bbfan419]

This is just shocking and sad news, Tim was way too young to leave this world so soon. Hard to believe this actually happened, it was not that long ago he was on the mound for the RedSox. Tim Wakefield will go down as one of the all-time RedSox greats, he pitched for them for a long time, as a starter, middle reliever and closer, he did everything you could ask of him during his career. RIP Tim and condolences to his family and friends.

 

[BMC]

When he joined the Sox he went 14-1 that season, earning the Comeback Player of the Year award. He went on an unbelievable tear that season. The AL batters simply couldn't figure that knuckleball out. IIRC he was the first knuckleballer in the AL since Wilbur Wood, who had long since retired by the time Wake came over from the NL.


I loved to watch him pitch especially on a hot & humid night, those conditions seemed to be the best for his knuckler. The ball would come off his hand and just sort of bob & weave towards the batter, who had no damn clue where the ball was going to go (Wake's catchers had that problem too lol) That pitch made the best hitters look like they'd never held a bat in their entire lives. I'm sure they hated facing him.

f*** cancer it takes all the good people away

 

[Tbaybruin]

God rest your soul. Prayers for Tim his wife and family.

 

[Alicat]