Tim Wakefield, the Red Sox pitching staff’s knuckleballing workhorse who rebounded from giving up a season-
ending home run to the Yankees in the 2003 playoffs to help Boston win the curse-breaking World Series the
following year, has died. He was 57.
The Red Sox announced his death in a statement on Sunday. Wakefield had brain cancer, according to former
teammate Curt Schilling, who revealed the diagnosis on a podcast last week without his permission. The Red Sox
confirmed Wakefield’s condition at the time but did not explain, citing his wish for privacy.
“Being an exceptional human being is not the same as being a great athlete. “Tim was both,” Red Sox chairman Tom
Werner stated in a statement. “I know the world was made better because he was in it.”
On Sunday, Red Sox manager and former player Alex Cora stated: “We lost a brother, a teammate, and a family
member. One of the best teammates I’ve ever had. Tim Wakefield wore his jersey with greater pride than any of the
other guys I played with.”
Wakefield was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a first baseman who set home run records in college. He
transitioned to pitching after perfecting the knuckleball in the minor leagues after learning the pitch from his father
as a child.
Wakefield told ESPN in 2011 that he learned the pitch as a youngster from his father, Steve, while playing catch in
their backyard in Melbourne, Florida.
“It was something to basically tire me out,” Wakefield explained.
Using an outmoded pitch, he went on to win 200 major league games, including 186 with the Red Sox, trailing only
Cy Young and Roger Clemens in franchise history.
Wakefield was nominated for the Red Sox’s Roberto Clemente Award for sportsmanship and community service
seven times before winning it in 2010. He was the team’s first Jimmy Fund captain, visiting patients and raising
money for the juvenile cancer charity, and he served as the Red Sox Foundation’s honorary chairman.
“He was a great man who will be dearly missed,” the Pirates said.
Wakefield’s position in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry in the early 2000s, however, cemented him as a fan favorite
whose impact extended far beyond his statistics.
