Posted on 07/06/2009 12:09:33 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
BOSTON – Tim Wakefield was in the weight room when Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell ducked his head in Sunday morning and said that the knuckleballer was wanted in Terry Francona’s office.
The office door was closed when Wakefield arrived; when it opened, Wakefield saw a stream of teammates – Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett and Jason Bay – all walking out with All-Star packets for the July 14 game in St. Louis. Francona, with a solemn face, beckoned for Wakefield to enter.
The charade didn’t last. Francona, a better manager than actor, cracked up, and informed Wakefield that he, too, was an All-Star for the first time in his 17-year career. Wakefield was added to the American League staff by Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon after the players voted in five starters and three relievers, proving, to paraphrase Muhammad Ali, that a knuckleball can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
“I feel very honored and humbled at the same time, excited and nervous,” said Wakefield, a failed minor league first baseman who took up the knuckleball as a last chance to salvage his career, had a sensational rookie debut with Pittsburgh in 1992 only to be released three years later, was grabbed off the scrap heap by Boston and now ranks as elder statesman on the Red Sox.
At 42 years and 346 days, Wakefield becomes the second-oldest player to make his All-Star debut, behind only the legendary Satchel Paige, who was 46 years and 1 day when he represented the St. Louis Browns at the 1952 game.
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I wish, oh HOW I WISH, I could learn to throw a knuckleball better than anyone. Of course, I guess that’s the desire of a lot of 30-something men out there.
God bless him!
The Neikro brothers were good knuckleballers. Watch some old video of them. I loved watching Phil warm up or just mess around in the bullpen at Atlanta-Fulton county Stadium. Good times! Bad team though.
Really glad for Wake.
He is one of the really good guys in baseball.
A good guy on and off the field gets a chance to partake in the All-Star game. Meanwhile cheaters A-Rod and Manny are home. Something feels right about that state of affairs.
Should be interesting to see how Wakefield's catcher fares.
If you would like to be on the ping list let me know.
This will be a medium volume ping list during the baseball season and a low volume ping list when all life stops in late October.
Yes, Murph came up in the late 70’s and was with the club until 89 I think. Great guy! He would always sighn autographs at the stadium.
in another sterling example of the sort of baseball geniuses who have been running the Pittsburgh Pirates, they determined that Wakefield was washed-up and sent him packing...in 1994! They have not smelled .500 since. Good for ya, Timmy!
I wish that was true of things beyond baseball...but thank God for baseball.
Until you’ve actually thrown a knuckleball, the way it’s supposed to be thrown, it’s hard to have an appreciation of just how amazingly weird it looks in flight.
I was a pitcher in my younger days, and have perhaps thrown a dozen or fewer “perfect” knuckleballs (out of hundreds of attempts), but I’ll never forget what it looks like. Your jaw drops because it’s hard to believe what your eyes have just seen. I never had to try to hit a good knuckleball pitcher.
Watching his pitches in slow motion is really awesome, and, if he pitches in the All-Star Game, his catcher is really going to be “in hell”.
“It Happens Every Spring”
(Though Kelly was a cheat.)
I remember Phil Niekro being on a few All-Star teams but didn’t get to pitch in the game because no one on the roster could catch his knuckleball.
[I was a pitcher in my younger days, and have perhaps thrown a dozen or fewer “perfect” knuckleballs (out of hundreds of attempts), but I’ll never forget what it looks like. Your jaw drops because it’s hard to believe what your eyes have just seen. I never had to try to hit a good knuckleball pitcher.]
I used to help train my younger brother in high school,he was really pretty good. A good knuckleball is a sight to behold, a bad one sails over the fence.
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