One of the truly great people ever to play for the Red Sox. I got to watch him in Pittsburgh when he made his incredible debut in ‘92. And I was back in Boston in ‘95 when he was an integral part of the out-of-nowhere division champs. His relief stint in game 5 of the 2004 ALCS was heroic… Varitek couldn’t catch the knuckler to save his life and Wake pitched out of trouble inning after inning.

the greatest?

some other greats

You beat me to this post, contrarian! I went to YouTube and found Wakefield's game 5 outing against the Yankees after hearing the sad news. Not a Boston fan, but damn, that team was fun to watch.

The last thing I posted in this forum was Billy Werber swearing off baseball forever after watching the 2004 Red Sox, which to me is extra hilarious given that:

a) the Red Sox were so entertaining
b) they had just broken their 86 year curse
c) Boston was Billy Werber's main team in the MLB!

Wakefield was my second favorite Red Sox pitcher (after Pedro of course). You never knew what you were gonna get from one game to the next but when the knuckler was really floating it was so fun to watch. Finished his career second in wins by a Sox pitcher, behind Clemens and Cy Young tied for first, second in appearances and first in innings pitched.