Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement at 5 PM tonight in Fort Myers. The announcement will be broadcast live at redsox.com.
Wakefield pitched for 19 seasons, 17 of which came with the Red Sox. He finished his Boston career with 186 wins, 3rd on the team's all-time list, and was a part of two World Series championship teams. Only three men played longer for the Red Sox: Carl Yastrzemski (23 seasons), Ted Williams (19), and Dwight Evans (19).
I really wish he had been able to get to 193 Red Sox wins, but he still had one hell of a career. One of the 25.
This has been the hardest thing I ever had to do, so it's with a heavy heart that I stand here today to say that I've decided to retire from the game of baseball. Ever since I was a little boy, all I ever wanted to do was play baseball. Even at an early age, after I learned cursive, I would always practice my autograph in hopes that I would become a big leaguer. Those hopes became a reality and I've been lucky to be able to live out my dream for the past 18 years. ...Alex Speier, WEEI:
I remember in '95, the first time I stepped out of that dugout and saw the Green Monster the first time, I knew I was in the place I belonged. To be able to share the same field with the greats before me as well as the ones I played with is truly amazing. There have been many ups and downs along the way, but one thing is for sure. Every time I stepped on the field, I gave everything I had. All I ever wanted to do was win. And the bigger goal was to win a World Series for this great city. Finally, after 86 years, we were able to do that. ...
When it came down to it, I had to take a hard look at what I thought was best for me, my family, and the Red Sox. There is nothing that I want more than for this team to win, and it's hard sometimes to take yourself out of the process. But in my heart, I feel that by retiring, I'm giving them a better chance to do that. ...
I've been wrestling with this decision for a long time, this whole offseason. ... I never wanted to pitch for another team. I always said that I wanted to retire as a Red Sox and today I'm able to do that.
According to Barry Mesiter, the agent for Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer turned down four contract offers for this coming season -- including one guaranteed major league offer -- in order to either return for or retire as a Red Sox.
His longevity also means he was #1 in losses (168), home runs allowed (401), walks (1,095), hits (2,931), earned runs (1,480), wild pitches (125), and hit batsmen (176).
His 38 home runs allowed in 1998 is a Red Sox single-season record. He threw 15 wild pitches last season, good for 4th-best on the team's all-time list.
For people who get NESN: NESN will also be showing the press conference.
ReplyDeleteI will miss him. Always such a team player. Who will ever forget how he had to come in for that awful last game in 2003? He will always be one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteNow I just hope Tek follows suit. It's so much better to go out with some dignity rather than trying to stretch a career beyond the productive point. And I would hate to see him end his career in a different uniform.
Bye, Tim. Many thanks. I felt so sorry for him after 2003 and it's great he was around for 04 and 07.
ReplyDeleteIs Varitek next? Please?
Here's to a job well done!
ReplyDeleteIf Varitek does retire this month, I gotta figure Wake throws out the first ball on Opening Day, and Tek catches it.
ReplyDeleteShame we can't hear the questions.
ReplyDeleteTim throws out the "it's been a long, strange trip" line with TC!
ReplyDeleteIf Varitek does retire this month and that happens, Jere, I call that you'll say you called it and refer back to this post!
ReplyDeleteI hope that happens, Jere--but Varitek catching Wakefield, sometimes dicey....
ReplyDeleteJere, that's a great idea. But somehow I don't think Tek will exercise the same good judgment as Wake.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't hear the questions at the press conference, only Tim's answers, but it sure sounded like they were asking whether Varitek was also going to retire.
He retired because of all of the increased activity he was hearing about in camp.
ReplyDeleteWith all the stockpiling of low-cost arms in camp, I am still a little surprised they didn't give Wakefield the time of day. I guess they surmised that he had very little left to offer.
ReplyDeleteHe retired because of all of the increased activity he was hearing about in camp.
ReplyDelete+1
Cafardo tweet: "A friend of Jason Varitek told me at the Wakefield press conference that Varitek is leaning toward retirement."
ReplyDeleteWake's agent says Wake turned down four contract offers for this coming season -- including one guaranteed major league offer -- in order to either return to the Sox or retire as a Sock.
ReplyDeleteWake is a class act who always did everything this team asked him to do.
ReplyDeleteAnd on Tek he may not have a choice?
I will miss them both, not so much them as players , but as Red Sox. Tek will always have a place in my memory for that shot he took on Arod.
And wake for game 3 of the 2004 alcs.
OMG - It's the Return of The Game Thread Board!!!
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget Wake getting the Big Fuckin W in Game 5. And starting Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway Park roughly one year after Boone.
ReplyDeleteHe bitched a fair amount about being shuffled around from the rotation to the pen (who wouldn't?), but he was always willing to pitch.
"If Varitek does retire this month and that happens, Jere, I call that you'll say you called it and refer back to this post!"
ReplyDeleteI call that I'll say that on my blog about how I had said it on my blog, then come over here and say that I had said it over here over here.
Thank-you Tim for everything: fast paced games, Gary Sheffield nearly screwing himself into the ground trying to mash your floaters, and all done with such class!
ReplyDeleteWhat a mensch!
"What a mensch!"
ReplyDeleteWas I the only one who immediately thought "auto correct"?
Archive time:
ReplyDeleteThe Ballad of Tim Wakefield
"There are plenty of people who will be crying when they hang up the spikes of Timmy Wakefield."
Christopher L. Gasper, Globe, February 18, 2012:
ReplyDelete"Red Sox Nation will always owe Wakefield for his role in helping restore the Joy of Sox after the acrimonious 1994 strike."
Sayeth the Globe:
ReplyDelete"General manager Ben Cherington said yesterday that the Red Sox have offered Jason Varitek a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. But that is as far as they will go."
Dammit. MFY will pay Beavis $20,000,000 to go away and pitch for Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteI saw that Joy of Sox reference! I think you should sue for trademark infringement. :)
ReplyDeleteNice Posnanski piece (as if there were any other kind) about Wakefield and the knuckleball.
ReplyDeleteI saw that Joy of Sox reference! I think you should sue for trademark infringement. :)
ReplyDeleteThen these folks might sue us! :)
Was I the only one who immediately thought "auto correct"?
ReplyDeleteProbably.
Nah, they sell socks. No one would confuse a blog about the Red Sox with socks. :)
ReplyDeleteThey actually give socks away to homeless people. So hopefully they will leave us alone.
ReplyDeletePos.
ReplyDeleteDammit. MFY will pay Beavis $20,000,000 to go away and pitch for Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteIt's fine. Yanks lose money, and Burnett will probably pitch much better, increasing the Why-Won't-He-Pitch-Well-For-Us Syndrome they have.