Tim Wakefield never intended to be a pitcher

The Boston Red Sox announced on Sunday that long-time pitcher and World Series champion Tim Wakefield died at the age of 57. It was just revealed this week by former teammate Curt Schilling, without Wakefield's consent, that he was fighting brain cancer.

The Red Sox responded by acknowledging Wakefield was fighting an illness but did not elaborate.

Wakefield had an incredible 19-year career as one of the most prominent knuckleballers in baseball history, resulting in two World Series championships in 2004 and 2007. The most incredible part of that career is that he never intended to be a pitcher in the Major Leagues.

He was originally selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 1988 draft as a power-hitting first baseman who had set the home run record at Florida Tech.

But when he first arrived in the Pirates minor league system, it became immediately apparent that he was struggling to hit professional pitching, striking out once every three at-bats. 

It was during his first year that one of the Pirates developmental coaches saw Wakefield messing around with a knuckleball during a game of catch and encouraged him to continue working at it, because it was unlikely he would make it above Double-A as a position player. 

So he did.

Wakefield made so much progress with it that he was called up to Pittsburgh during the 1992 season, became an immediate star in their pitching staff and helped them win the National League East division title. He eventually made his way to Boston following the 1994 season and became a long-time staple on the Red Sox pitching staff.

For his career, Wakefield appeared in 627 games, posting a 200-180 record and a 4.41 ERA. He also struck out 2,156 batters. He recorded 2,046 of those strikeouts as a member of the Red Sox, placing him second on the franchise's all-time leaderboard behind only Roger Clemens (and just one spot ahead of Pedro Martinez). 

Wakefield is regarded as one of the best knuckleball pitchers of all time. A 2022 ranking at MLB.com had him slotted third behind only Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm. 

His career may not have been great enough to earn him a spot in Cooperstown, but he certainly has an important place in Red Sox history for being a part of the team that ended the Curse of the Bambino and for being one of the most successful pitchers in franchise history.