Tim Wakefield, Pitcher Who Helped Boston Break the Curse, Dies at 57

Tim Wakefield, a right-handed knuckleball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who in 2004 performed a important late-innings reduction position within the crew’s successful its first World Series championship in 86 years, died on Sunday. He was 57.

The Red Sox introduced his demise in a press release, saying the trigger was mind most cancers. Tom Werner, the crew chairman, later stated in a textual content message that Wakefield died at his residence in Massachusetts, although he didn’t say in what city or metropolis.

In 2010, close to the tip of his profession, Wakefield received Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award, which acknowledges a participant’s neighborhood and charitable work.

“He not only captivated us on the field but was the rare athlete whose legacy extended beyond the record books to the countless lives he touched with his warmth and genuine spirit,” John W. Henry, principal proprietor of the Red Sox, stated in a press release.

Wakefield was a part of a small tribe of pitchers — Hoyt Wilhelm, Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough and R.A. Dickey, amongst them — who had lengthy careers specializing within the knuckleball, which, when thrown correctly, takes a sluggish, darting, fluttery path to residence plate.

“You’re better off trying to hit Wakefield when you’re in a drunken stupor,” Jason Giambi, the longtime first baseman for the Oakland A’s and the Yankees, instructed The New Yorker in 2004.

Wakefield was deeply ingrained within the fierce Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. During the 2003 American League Championship Series, he surrendered the game-ending residence run in Game 7 to Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone within the eleventh inning.

But a yr later, when the 2 groups met once more within the A.L.C.S., Wakefield pitched three innings of scoreless reduction in further innings in Game 5, placing Boston in place for David Ortiz to single within the successful run within the backside of the 14th.

“Last year was last year,” Wakefield instructed Jackie MacMullan, a columnist for The Boston Globe, including, “I was just trying to keep us in the game for as long as possible.”

The Red Sox went on to win the American League pennant — beautiful New York by peeling off 4 video games in a row after shedding the primary three — then swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series, the crew’s first since 1918.

Wakefield pitched 17 seasons with the Red Sox after two with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had a profession document of 200-180 and an earned run common of 4.41. He ranks second in profession Red Sox victories, with 186, second to the 192 of Roger Clemens and Cy Young.

Timothy Stephen Wakefield was born on Aug. 2, 1966, in Melbourne, Fla.

He took a circuitous path to turning into a knuckleballer. He was drafted by the Pirates as a primary baseman in 1988 however didn’t present a lot hitting prowess. While enjoying for the Pirates’ Class A minor league crew, a coach, Woody Huyke, watched Wakefield throw knucklers and was impressed.

Two days later, as Huyke instructed The New Yorker, “we had an organizational meeting because, you know, he was on the bubble as an infielder. I said, ‘Before you let him go, I’d like to see him on the mound, ’cause he’s got a good knuckleball.’ So they kept him around. They told him, ‘Either you pitch or go home.’”

He was referred to as up by the Pirates in 1992, received eight of his 9 choices, with a 2.15 E.R.A., and pitched two full victories within the National League Championship Series in opposition to the Atlanta Braves (who received the sequence in seven video games). But he started combating the knuckleball, resulting in a subpar 1993 season with Pittsburgh and to poor leads to the minors in 1994. The Pirates launched him, and the Red Sox signed him in early 1995.

In June of that season, Wakefield took a no-hitter in opposition to the Oakland A’s into the eighth inning, however a single by Stan Javier with one out ruined the gem. He nonetheless received, 4-1, utilizing his knuckler for all however 4 of his 114 pitches.

“Soon Tim Wakefield’s legions will organize,” Dan Shaughnessy, a Globe columnist, rhapsodized. “They will sit together in the center field bleachers and crack their knuckles between pitches. They will be the Loyal Order of Knuckleheads.”

Wakefield had a 16-8 document with a 2.95 E.R.A. that season, maybe his greatest. He was with the Red Sox to remain.

Following his retirement after the 2011 season, Wakefield and Dickey had been featured in a documentary, “Knuckleball!” (2012). Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, the movie additionally centered on Niekro and Hough.

After the movie’s launch, Wakefield instructed The Newport Daily News in Rhode Island {that a} younger knuckleballer’s probabilities of being drafted by a serious league crew had been virtually nil given the MLB’s emphasis on a pitcher’s pace.

“They may sign him as a free agent,” he stated. “There’s always that doubt, because of the nature of the pitch, and I felt like I had to prove myself year after year.”

He joined the New England Sports Network as an analyst for Red Sox video games in 2012 and was inducted into the crew’s Hall of Fame 4 years later.

Last week, the previous Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a former teammate of Wakefield’s, revealed on his podcast that Wakefield and his spouse, Stacy, had most cancers. The Red Sox issued a press release saying, “Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly, without their permission,” including, “Their health is a deeply personal matter they needed to keep private as they navigate treatment and work to tackle this disease.”

In addition to his spouse, Wakefield’s survivors embrace his youngsters, Trevor and Brianna.

Wakefield stated he realized to throw the knuckleball from his father.

“Dad comes home from work, and I’m, you know, ‘Lets go play catch,’” he instructed The New Yorker. “He was tired, and he wanted to go inside. So the knuckleball was his way of trying to tire me out, ’cause I didn’t want to have to catch it — it’d go by me and I’d have to go pick it up. It was kind of a subtle way of Dad saying, ‘Time to go, let’s quit.’”