Long-time Red Sox pitcher Wakefield calls it quits

Email to a friend Permalink

Friday, February 17, 2012

Joe Parello, GoLocal Contributor

After 19 years in the big leagues, 17 of them with the Boston Red Sox, knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield is retiring today.

 Wakefield won 186 games with the Sox, six shy of the club record held by Cy Young and Roger Clemens, and was a key piece of both of Boston’s World Series Champion teams of the last decade.

The 45-year-old Wakefield will go down as the all-time leader in pitching appearances, pitching starts and innings pitched for the Sox.

Originally drafted as a first baseman by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1988, Wakefield developed his knuckleball pitch after it became clear he would not crack Pittsburgh’s lineup as a positional player. After going back and forth between the majors and minors in the Pirates organization, Wakefield signed with the Red Sox in 1995.

Wakefield would play out the rest of his career in Boston, posting a career-high 17 wins in both 1998 and 2007, and helping the Sox end the curse of the Bambino in 2004. Wakefield captured his 200th career victory last fall, but Boston made it clear the aging pitcher was not a part of the club’s future. The Red Sox offered Wakefield an invitation to spring training, but did not guarantee him a place in the

rotation, or even a roster spot.

A news conference is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET at the team’s spring training practice facility, JetBlue Park. With 17 years in Boston, only Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams and Dwight Evans will have played longer than Wakefield in a Sox uniform.
 

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink