Green: Drinking in Wakefield’s career
Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball has been floating to the tune of 16 wins and a decision in every start — not bad for a fourth starter. Yet somehow, swaggering still isn’t part of his repertoire. Bling? Not so much. Commercials for Vitamin Water and Ford? Try Bernie and Phyl’s.
When it starts to seem like baseball has been swamped with money-grubbing divas, Tim Wakefield stands tall (and humbly) as a true team player. When he re-signed with the team in 2005, he could have tested the free-agent market, but instead chose an unusual deal where the team re-ups his contract on a yearly basis (not too different from us regular working folk). He’s been in the majors so long that babies born during his rookie year will be starting high school this fall. His career is as varied as it is long: his ERA has fluctuated more than Bush’s approval ratings, sinking to 2.15 and soaring to 5.61. In 1999, he got cut from the playoff roster. In 2004, he threw the first pitch of the World Series. He’s started, closed and done everything in between — whatever the team needed that particular day. Because of his unpredictable pitch, Wake ranks third among Sox pitchers in strikeouts, yet also first in wild pitches and hit batsmen.
His tenure on the team is proof that by being pretty good for a pretty long time, you can accomplish great things — and it shows just how rarely those two qualities come together. He’s among the top three Red Sox pitchers in wins, starts and innings pitched — only Cy Young and Roger Clemens logged more. And yet Tim Wakefield’s fastest pitch barely breaks the speed limit on the Pike. No matter. You know what they say about slow and steady.
No wonder Sox fans, a notoriously demanding and impatient breed, have a soft spot for Wake. Doug Mirabelli, a lifetime .232 hitter, is welcomed back to the team for Wakefield’s sake. A bad season by the knuckleballer is excused (such as last season’s 7-11 record) because of a lack of run support (well, it’s true). A bad inning or two is forgiven — after all, the fickle flutterball giveth and taketh away. Even giving up that homer to Aaron Bleepin’ Boone back in ’03 couldn’t harden our hearts to Wakefield. “Mr. Versality” one fansite calls him. Another confesses that the pitcher “allows me to hold out hope for mankind.” After he logged his 16th win against the White Sox last weekend, one headline read, “Tim Wakefield Is Like a Fine Wine.”
Did somebody say wine? Because I’ve been working on a bottle of Wake’s own CaberKnuckle (proceeds benefit Pitching In For Kids, one of his many charity affiliations). It’s not an outstanding wine. It’s unassuming, modest, decent. Not too expensive. But it gets the job done just as well as the fancy stuff.
Just like Tim.
Sarah Green is a freelance writer who can be reached at sgreen@gmail.com
