Sports Bright: Hooray for Wake!

Regardless of what happens in Tuesday’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, whether it be a great game or a debacle, the naming of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to his first All-Star team is a great story and an honor well-deserved by a classy player.

At forty-two, Wakefield is the second oldest first-time All-Star, behind only the legendary Satchel Paige (46). Often such a late career selection is made in acknowledgment of a player’s lifetime of work, but at 11 wins (10 at the time of selection), Wake is tied for the American League lead with teammate Josh Beckett. At times this season Wakefield has been all but unhittable, a rock in the Red Sox rotation even when more high-profile pitchers have struggled.

But Wakefield’s career has always been one of interesting twists and turns. As a minor league first baseman in Class A ball, Wake turned to baseball’s most beguiling and frustrating pitch, the knuckledball, to save his flailing career. In 1992 he burst on the scene with the Pittsburgh Pirates, capping off a great rookie season with two victories of the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series. I attended Game 3 of that series at Three Rivers Stadium, which the Bucs won 3-2. Wake’s knuckler was brilliant that night, thrilling to watch. I looked forward to his career to come.

Yet less than 2 1/2 years later, on April 20, 1995, the Pirates released Wakefield after two seasons filled with control problems. Six days later, Boston swept in and signed Wake. He quickly returned to form, and the rest is history. Wakefield has played for the Sox ever since, longer than any other current member of the team. He has a unique $4 million contract with a team option that automatically rolls over to the following year every time the Red Sox pick it up.

Beyond the years and beyond the longevity, what we as fans should appreciate most about Wake is his attitude. Tim Wakefield is truly as egoless a player as there is in the game today. Whatever the Sox ask him to do, Wake does willing: start, close, mop-up, you name it, even jumping between these roles in relatively short time frames (these days he’s a starter, but he’s held various relief positions in the past). His rolling contract means no tough negotiations, no greed or holding out for more money.

In 2003, after giving up the home run to Aaron Boone in Game 7 of the ALCS, he apologized to the Red Sox fans. A year later, in Game 3 of the ‘04 ALCS, Tim Wakefield volunteered to forego his scheduled Game 4 start and pitch in relief to rest Boston’s beleaguered bullpen. Manager Terry Francona accepted Wakefield’s offer, and the knuckleballer endured 3.1 brutal innings being hammered by the Yankees. It couldn’t have been easy on Wake, but the gambit paid off, and as everyone knows, the Sox, bolstered by a then rested relief corp, came back from three games down to do the seemingly impossible. Considering the tragic ending to the 2003 ALCS, many of the other Red Sox players said that they were very happy they could win the 2004 series for Wake.

So at forty-two and counting, Tim Wakefield keeps on pitching, and he could do so for many years to come, if he so desires. The softness with which the knuckler is thrown has always equaled longevity; knuckleballers simply don’t throw out the arms. But even if he decides to retire after this season, it’s great to see Wakefield finally receive a well-deserved All-Star bid.

• December 24, 2009 -- Matt Holliday & Jason Bay to the Yankees & Red Sox? – MLB Baseball (0)
• November 18, 2008 -- MVPedroia (0)
• January 20, 2010 -- Mark McGwire’s Steroid Admission – MLB Baseball (0)
• January 7, 2010 -- Andre Dawson Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame – MLB (2)
• December 29, 2009 -- Top Ten Sports Moments of 2000 – 2009 (11)