The Impossible Career Of Tim Wakefield

the knuckleball is different from any other pitch from anything else in baseball really and those who can throw it and throw it well for an entire career are truly rare breeded ball player the no spin offering itself has become a lost art of sorts in a league dominated by fireballers and spin raids few today remember the male magicians in the past like Phil nekro Charlie Huff or Hoy Wilhelm the most of us probably still remember a pitcher by the name of Tim Wakefield who in his 19 Major League Seasons put together a career almost as unpredictable as the pitch that made him famous when Wakefield began his professional career he wasn't even a pitcher after all just a struggling minor league infielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in his mid-20s with his career on the line Wakefield cracked the code on baseball's most bizarre pitch he went on to win 200 Big League games two World Series Championships and play in some of the most memorable playoff matches in recent history Tim Wakefield is not a Hall of Famer he never won a CYO award and he made just a single All-Star team in two decades on the mound but his career remains one of the most remarkable in the game and one definitely worth looking are into wakefield's father first taught on the knuckleball when he was around eight years old his dad worked the early morning shift at an electronics company in Florida but was an avid softball player at knuckleball Enthusiast at first Tim said that practicing the pitch was more like a magic trick or party stunt than a serious Endeavor besides Tim was a position player not a hurler and a decent one at that he received a few offers to play in college and wound up at the Florida Institute of Technology which while not exactly a baseball Powerhouse still ranks as a D1 program at Florida Tech Wakefield played first base and hit 40 home runs including 22 in one season enough to draw the eye of some big league Scouts in 1988 he was selected in the eighth round of the draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and sent off to their single a squad in Watertown New York in his first year there Wingfield struggled hitting just 189 with 57 strikeouts he looked overmatched as a hitter even in single a ball and for many at the time he seemed like he'd be more of a product of the crazy Juiced metal bat era in that time's college baseball scene than anything of actual significance when it came to real world potential he was even told he would never play beyond the double a level but before we get more into that I want to take a second to tell you about how you can win an officially signed Ronald Acuna Jr baseball courtesy of today's sponsor Underdog fantasy and their immensely entertaining pickum system which allows you to choose between the over or under on a multitude of daily available stats ranging from strikeouts hits pitch count to their fantasy points then you simply select two to five picks and if your picks are correct you can win anywhere from 3 to 20 times your initial 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knuckleball is the butterfly of offerings soft fluttering and completely unpredictable it's the easiest pitch in the arm but the hardest one to control the best have almost no spin at all pushed out by the pitcher's palm and put at the mercy of the air currents around them tossed this way and that like an airplane caught in turbulence they can also be infuriatingly difficult to hit for batters someone once said that hidden Phil neko's knuckleball was late trying to eat Jello with chopsticks wakefield's innate grasp of the pitch was good enough to get his single a manager to ask him to split time between the mound and the infield equipped with his Newfound weapon he went one and one with a 340 era in his first 18 games in the hill he also struck out over a batter in inning as a result he was invited to the fall instructional league as a pitcher things were looking up Wakefield knew that the knock buckleball was his ticket to keep playing pro ball and it was a long shot one at that when they put an infielder on the mount he later observed it's like they're putting out the pasture but in Tim's full season with the pitch it looked like the experiment might not take he went 10 and 14 with a 473 era walking four batters per nine while giving up 24 home runs but he got to keep coming to the ballpark and in 1991 he made it the double A Carolina Mudcats where he went 15-8 with a 290 era his Whip and Home Run rates fell drastically he was starting to look like an actual pitcher The Following Season he continued to throw well at AAA Buffalo and was called up the majors mid-year now at the age of 25 three years after having a near career death experience as a minor Leaguer Wakefield was in the big leagues as a knuckleballer and what a start he would end up having on July 31st 1992 Tim Wakefield made his major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium Wakefield went the distance for his first big league win throwing 146 pitches in the process while giving up just six hits and striking out 10 helpless Cardinals and route to a 3-2 Victory both runs were unearned during the start he'd also throw the first three of 146 wild pitches registered his career Wakefield continued to pitch well and command the knuckle bonds next to me starts and by the end of his fourth he had allowed just five earned runs in total and was 3-0 with a 132 era in August T2 A6 hit shutout to beat fellow knuckleballer Tom candiotti of the Dodgers two to nothing it was the first time two knuckleball pitchers had squared off since Phil Nico had faced his brother Joe in 1982. overall Wakefield was downright miraculous for a rookie Shirley but even more so for a rookie with such a unicorn pitch he didn't give up more than three runs in a game for the entire season finishing 8-1 with a 215 era and 162 era plus despite the late start he came in third in Rookie of the Year voting but Wakefield wasn't done in the NLCS he tossed two complete games against the Atlanta Braves besting Hall of Famer Tom glavin in both game 3 and game six of the series if Barry Bonds had thrown Sid bream out at the plate in game 7 the Pirates might have been off to the World Series and Wakefield likely would have been the NLCS MVP in his first Big League season Wakefield had managed to tame baseball's most untangable pitch and catapult himself from minor league afterthought to key playoff hurler but successes seldom long live for the knuckleball pitcher even those veterans who managed to harness its power can lose their grandpa too quickly a rookie season like wakefields in 1992 would be challenging for any pitcher to duplicate and for a knuckleballer nearly impossible the Pirates named Wakefield their opening day starter and had high hopes for their freakishly good young hurler in 1993 he won that start but walked nine batters a crazy high total and things just kept getting more challenging from there later that month Wakefield threw 172 pitches in a game in which he would walk another 10 batters again a lot even for a knuckleballer whether it was because he had been overextended or not Wakefield continued to struggle he would look sharp one outing and awful the next and his overall performance was a far cry from his Rookie's season two at six and eleven with a 561 era and criminally High i-171 whip even being sent down by the Pirates to double a at one point to work out the Kinks he even strung them there posting a 699 era and just like that Wakefield was starting to look like a flash in the pan perhaps 1992 had been a fluke born of the random nature of his magical offering he spent most of 1994 in the miners where he backed up this idea with another horrendous year Italian era of 584 and a 515 record the postseason hero just two years ago was gone and in his place was a player with roughly the same trajectory as his infielder cell from all those seasons ago the Pirates would go so far as to release Wakefield in early 1995. wakefield's erratic performance owed a lot to the cruel inconsistency of the knuckleball itself he once said I have no idea where it's going The Hitter doesn't know where it's going and the catcher doesn't know where it's going I just try to throw it down the middle of the plate to regain control the pitch Wingfield sought help from his fellow knuckleballers Charlie huff and Tom candiati both worked with him on how to change speeds with the pitch and pick his spots they'll negro's advice to the struggling wake field was more spiritual he told him you've got to eat sleep walk and talk the knuckleball until it floats in your bloodstream like a spirit inside you but even if Wakefield could again Master the difficult pitch would there be any clubs willing to take another chance on him enter Boston GM Dan duquette duquette was looking for a bargain and another arm to eat up some innings for the struggling Red Sox rotation with no other takers Wakefield signed from pittance but he would get another chance to prove himself this time once again in the show the Red Sox even brought on necro as a consultant to help their new pitcher Wakefield got his first start with the Red Sox on May 27 1995 and lo and behold after all that spiritual and physical work the magic had returned he won his first four starts with Boston including two complete games allowing just two earned runs over more than 33 Innings and he kept winning it was like the summer of 1992 all over again Wakefield took a no-hitter into the eighth inning twice and after besting the Orioles on August 13th wakefield's record with his new team stood at 14-1 with a microscopic 1.65 array still even in the midst of this hot streak the fickle pitch with which he was making his money would still occasionally abandon Wakefield in his next start that August he was so wild that the Mariners took the first 18 pitches before Mike Flowers launched a grand slam Wakefield went just 2-7 through the rest of the 1995 season but still finished 16-8 with a 2.98 era and once defy the ra plus and finished third and saw young voting and the Red Sox won the AL East The Wall Street Journal even called it one of the best knuckleball seasons of all time it appeared that Wakefield and his elusive pitch were back in business this time in the American League but in 1996 the magic again abandoned Wakefield he managed to avoid a truly abysmal season like before but still his 514 era and 98 era plus were nothing to write home about he had another middling season in 1997 racking up a league leading 15 losses along with a 425 era but at least he was eating more than 200 Innings a year for the Red Sox and showing occasional flashes of Brilliance Boston returned to the playoffs in 1998 and Wakefield improved marginally even if only in record at 17-8 he faced off against the Indians in the division series though and got shelled lasting only one in the third Innings while taking the loss after Red Sox closer Tom Gordon got injured in 1999 the team started using Wakefield as both the starter and relief pitcher even occasionally sliding him in as closer it was a hybrid role that will continue for the next four seasons in both 1999 and 2000 Wakefield struggle with his new job posting eras over five but in 2001 he brought that number down to a decent 3.90 and then 2.81 in 2002 that year he again registered Neri plus over 160 his third such season how significant is that well for reference that's one more campaign than future Hall of Famer Zach Greinke has managed to tally so far in his own illustrious career Wakefield regained his full-time starting job in 2003 and went 11-7 with slightly above average peripherals as the Red Sox returned to the postseason for an epic battle against the Rival New York Yankees in the ALCS Wakefield got the call in game one winning at 5-2 and again in game four which he won again giving up just one run in seven Innings game seven was one for the ages it started with Pedro Martinez against Roger Clemens the score was tied after nine when Red Sox manager Grady Little decided to give the veteran knuckleballer the ball in the 10th the Yankees went down in order and the game remained tied field felt awful later comparing himself to Bill Buckner whose error helped cost the red socks the 1986 World Series but Wakefield unlike Buckner did not have to wait long for a shot at redemption in 2004 he shook off a tough regular season going into the playoffs basically the Yankees again in the ALCS the Yankees won the first three games including a 19-day blowout in game three Wakefield had volunteered to forego his start in game four and eat some innings in the blowout saving all the Red Sox arms what would prove to be an epic come from behind series we all remember what happened next Dave Roberts and the Red Sox blow out an epic game four then game five goes to Extra Innings with the Red Sox facing elimination and who comes in with the game on the line Wakefield shuts down the Yankees in the 12th inning and then the 13th and then the 14th surviving two pass Balls by Jason Varitek who usually didn't catch Wakefield and when David Ortiz delivered the game-winning hit to the second straight night in a row Tim is the winning pitcher the Red Sox of course won the next two games and the series then swept the Cardinals in the World Series to break their 86 year old curse Wakefield had redeemed himself in the boom home run being an integral part of one of the most iconic championships in baseball history Tim Wakefield never again reached the same Heights as he did during that period he won 17 games for the Red Sox in 2007 when they won Another World Series but now without tallying in exactly League average 100 era plus along the way and boy did he have some disastrous playoff outings to end his career finishing with the career postseason record of 5-7 in an era of 675 but there were still some bright spots near the end for Wakefield he made his first All-Star appearance in 2009 at the age of 42 struck out his 2000 batter in 2010 and won his 200th and final game in 2011. he retired just six wins short of the Boston franchise record a marquee Shirley would have surpassed had he not accepted that hybrid Bullpen roll between 1999 and 2002. in the end he threw 17 seasons for Boston racking up 3006 Innings along the way the most in franchise history like his own mentors he has also continued to help other knuckleballers develop their craft even assisting Steven Wright on his way to becoming an Al All-Star in 2016 for the Red Sox Cooperstown never called and never will still his career numbers remain impressive to this day especially for a knuckleballer including those 200 wins 3226 total Innings 2 153 KS and an above average 105 era plus heck even registered 22 saves when all is said and done everyone who watched him Wakefield and his unicorn pitch remembers him and that's more than many Hall of Famers can remotely claim perhaps it was fellow iconic Red Sox hurler Pedro Martinez who said it best I've got a lot of respect for Wake because he goes out in the mound and fights if he doesn't have good knuckleball he ain't got bleep but he fights anyway now thanks for watching the video leave a like And subscribe if you enjoyed and click this playlist for other essay content just like this have a great day everyone

Channel: Made The Cut

Views: 154,705

Keywords: MLB, baseball, 2022, mlb baseball, baseball videos, braves, sf giants, mlbscores, stlouis cardinals, houstonastros, espn mlb, shohei ohtani, mlb schedule, babe ruth, ohtani, cubs schedule, red sox schedule, phillies schedule, yankees schedule, mlb rumors, dodgers, dodgers schedule

Id: bpZfKftTEIQ

Length: 14min 9sec (849 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 13 2023