The .300 Hitter: The survivor Tim Wakefield

By Adam Cancryn

Tim Wakefield's time as a baseball player was supposed to end in 1988. Yet here he is more than two decades later, stepping away from an improbable career built on one improbable pitch.

By now, 19 major league seasons later, Tim Wakefield's story is a familiar one.

A light-hitting first baseman drafted out of Florida Tech by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield had just finished a 1988 season in which he hit .189 and managed just 11 extra base hits over 54 games. It was an uninspiring performance and, to Wakefield's good fortune, at least one scout had no problem telling him just that. You'll never make it past the AA level as a position player, said the scout, whose name has long been lost to history. Not with your skill set.

Desperate to do the improbable and salvage his career, Wakefield turned to the most improbable solution in baseball: the knuckleball.

Difficult to learn and impossible to master, with a tendency toward insubordination ("A curveball that doesn't give a damn" is how sportswriter Jimmy Cannon described it), the knuckleball is a questionable pitch to hitch your fortunes to; just 85 pitchers in Major League Baseball history have successfully put their career in the its shaky hands, by Rob Neyer's unofficial count. And none of them were light-hitting first basemen clinging to a career just a year old and fading fast.

Yet Wakefield and the knuckleball clicked almost instantly. In 1989, he threw 39 2/3 innings and finished with a 3.40 ERA. It earned him a promotion, and the next year he won 10 games. The wins grew to 15, with a 2.90 ERA, at AA Carolina in 1991. Three years removed from the bowels of the Pirates' organization, Wakefield was a knuckleballer and a rising star.

He burst onto the Major League stage in '92, going 8-1 and helping the Pirates to a playoff berth. Pittsburgh would lose in seven games in the NLCS. Wakefield would record two of the team's three series wins.

The knuckleball is a cruel mistress, however, and its dips and dives deserted him soon after that breakout year. Wakefield spent the next four up-and-down seasons in the minors. There, he simply did what he'd done his entire improbable career: show up every day, pitch whenever called upon and hope the knuckleball continues to dance and twirl.

Even after catching on with the Red Sox, Wakefield's approach never changed. His numbers were never great, but Wakefield entrenched himself at the major league level as the team mule. A string of better, more talented pitchers filtered through the organization, but none could match Wakefield's constant state of rubber-armed readiness. He filled whatever role was necessary, and threw whenever and for however long was required. A year after going 17-8 as a starter, Wakefield in 1999 switched to the bullpen and finished 28 games, saving 15 of his 18 opportunities. It would be three years until he got another crack at the rotation. When he did, he won 11 games and posted a career-best 162 ERA+, and still saved three games in the process.

That would be the sort of anti-rhythm of Wakefield's career: scattered, unpredictable and hanging by a thread, yet always available when needed, just like the knuckleball he put his faith in each time out. Nevertheless, it would net him two World Series rings, an All-Star Game appearance, and the nod in 1995 as the American League's Comeback Player of the Year.

In recent years, it's been suggested that Wakefield became selfish and single-minded in his pursuit of 200 career wins. There may be some truth to that-- after all, 200 wins is an unthinkable milestone for a converted first baseman with one pitch. Yet even then, Wakefield was a constant, the rock that the Red Sox sorely needed amid the injuries and frayed nerves that have plagued them in recent years. He pitched 33 games at the age of 44, starting 23 and finishing six. He showed up every day. And sometimes even, everything would come together and that knuckleball would swerve and drop and swirl, and Wakefield would be dominant again.

As a whole, Tim Wakefield wasn't a great pitcher, and he was never going to be. But for 19 years, he showed up every day, and piece by piece, fashioned an honorable career. For a light-hitting first baseman out of Florida Tech, that's not too bad.


For Sox fans, a long-awaited goodbye

By Parker Swenson

Tim Wakefield and his nervous breakdown-inducing outings are thankfully gone... for now.  

Wave goodbye to Wake. This past week, Tim Wakefield, the infamous Red Sox knuckleballer, called it a career. With exactly 200 wins to his name, Wakefield boasts some gaudy stats for a man who’s built his 19-year career on one pitch. He finished behind only Cy Young and Roger Clemens in all-time Red Sox wins, sits behind only Clemens in strikeouts (2,046 to Roger’s 2,590) and bested both in starts (430) and innings pitched (3,006).

Yet even though the career numbers are impressive, I’m excited that Wake has finally stepped away. No pitcher in recent memory generated more anxiety among the Red Sox faithful. His knuckleball, which Wakefield threw more than 75% of the time, came in at about 65 mph to 70 mph. That's about the speed of a 13-year-old’s fastball. And Wakefield’s fastball? It wasn't much better, hitting just 73 mph to 78 mph. If the knuckleball wasn't dancing, his outings quickly become a rousing round of home run derby.

And unfortunately, his knuckleball had had some tired legs for several years now. Over his last six seasons, Wakefield was 56-57 in 147 starts and 23 relief appearances. Over those same six seasons, the Red Sox averaged roughly five-and-a-quarter runs per game, second only to the Yankees during that period. But the run support was often not enough for Wakefield, who finished with a record over .500 just twice in those six years.

In fact, Wakefield managed a winning record in only nine or his 17 seasons with the Sox, and a big contributor to that is the ease with which he could lose big leads. Wakefield pitched his way to an ERA over 5.00 six times in his career, a mark that many pitchers don’t get a second or third chance to recover from, let alone six.

Yet despite all that, he held on with the Red Sox because of his consistent health and ability to step into any role, be it starter, reliever, or even closer. He’s always been there when the injury bug hits the rotation, and could be penciled in for six innings and three earned runs on any given night.

When asked if he would consider a midseason comeback with the Sox if called upon, Wakefield responded with “more than likely.” Though his roster spot is going to someone newer and, hopefully, more talented, something tells me we're just one injury away from several anxious, knuckleball-filled games in the future for the Red Sox faithful.

The Week Ahead (all times EST)- Your guide to what to watch-- and what to watch for-- this coming week

College Basketball
Kansas St. at Missouri- Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Virginia at Virginia Tech- Feb. 21 at 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
Duke at Florida St.- Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Missouri at Kansas- Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. (CBS)
North Carolina at Virginia- Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. (ESPN)
Wisconsin at Ohio St.- Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. (CBS)
NBA

Blazers at Lakers- Feb. 20 at 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
Hawks at Knicks- Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. (SportSouth/MSG)
Knicks at Heat- Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. (TNT)
NBA All-Star Game- Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.
NHL
Rangers at Penguins- Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. (MSG/FOX PITT)
Red Wings at Blackhawks- Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. (NBCSN)
Bruins at Blues- Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. (NESN/FOX MIDW)
Lightning at Penguins- Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. (NHLNET)
NASCAR
Daytona 500- Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. (FOX)
Baseball
Pitchers and catchers report during the first half of this week, including the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals on Feb. 20; the Boston Red Sox on Feb. 21; the Miami Marlins on Feb. 22; and the Texas Rangers on Feb. 23. A full list can be found at Big League Stew.

In the Kitchen- Tracking the major hot stove stories

• Lions defensive end Cliff Avril is in a standoff with his team over a new deal. Avril is pushing for a long-term contract, while Detroit is mulling using its franchise tag on him. 
• Outfielder Mike Cameron will retire after 17 major league seasons. A great defensive center fielder with pop at the plate, Cameron won three gold gloves and hit .249 with 278 home runs during stints with eight different teams.
• Kyle Kendrick-- who was once tricked into thinking he got traded to a Japanese team-- signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for $7.5 million over two years. 
• Jorge Soler is the next Cuban outfielder drawing attention after Yoenis Cespedes signed with the Oakland Athletics last week. The 19-year-old has reportedly received interest from as many as seven teams, including the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox, and could command $15 million to $20 million over five years.

Web Gems- The week's best, worst or strangest Internet sports finds

Man in Full- SI's Chris Ballard on Mike Powell, the Chicago wrestling coach who's built a high school powerhouse and inspired countless kids along the way, all while fighting a muscle-weakening disease. Brandon Sneed later interviewed Ballard about the story.

John Fairfax, who rowed across the Atlantic, dies at 74- "At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide by jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate."

The best NY athlete (Hint: Not Lin)- Amid all the attention paid to Victor Cruz and Jeremy Lin and others, New York's best athlete has flown under the radar.

The Empire State building lit blue and orange Feb. 17 in honor of the late Gary Carter.

Coming Up- What's next at Began in '96

• Tuesday: A guide to sticking with your fitness goals, and then putting your progress to the test, by Parker Swenson.
• Thursday: Joe Schackman breaks down all of Major League Baseball's active Hall of Fame candidates.