Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield passed away on Sunday at the age of 57. I’m a Yankees fan, of course, but I’ve always liked Tim Wakefield. Wakefield was a former outfielder turned knuckleballer who carved out a 19-year career for himself. He won 200 games for the Red Sox, made an All-Star team, and won two World Series.
Not bad for a failed outfielder who discovered that he could throw a knuckleball while playing catch in the outfield.
Tim Wakefield and I also go way back.
Back in 1995, I was playing my second season of fantasy baseball. It was a different game in ‘95 and perhaps a better game. The internet did not contain the vast stores of information it does today, and many people lacked access to the network.
Back then, if you wanted to be a great fantasy baseball player, you had to hunt for information from every source imaginable. I would buy two or three newspapers a day, watch every iteration of SportsCenter, and even catch sports on the local news in the evenings, hoping to find tidbits of information on injuries, changes in starting rotations, and blossoming rookies in the minor leagues. I would keep track of player’s statistics through box scores and spreadsheets, negotiate dozens of trades with other owners over the phone, and spend hour upon hour on the game.
I do nothing halfway, and when it gets competitive, I focus all my energy and attention on the task at hand. For two years, I lived and breathed fantasy baseball, which is why I no longer play.
I simply do not have the time to play the game properly.
But 1995 was a different story.
Amid the ‘95 campaign, Red Sox ace Roger Clemens was injured, and the team had called up the relatively unknown Tim Wakefield from the minor leagues to take his place in the rotation. Wakefield was originally an outfielder for the Pirates who had converted himself to a knuckleballer in an attempt to remain in the major leagues, and it had worked. Wakefield went on to post a 16-8 record in 1995 with a 2.95 ERA.
Outstanding fantasy baseball numbers. He finished third in the voting for the Cy Young Award in 1995.
A couple of weeks after Wakefield had joined the team, it became apparent that he was going to be a star, so I called my fantasy league commissioner, Mike Lavin, to pick the player up for my team.
“My brother, Bob, already tried,” Lavin said. “But league rules state that the player has to be in the team’s minor league system at the beginning of the year. Wakefield wasn’t.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I’m a Sox fan. Of course, I’m sure.”
It’s remarkable to think how Wikipedia or a website like ESPN would one day render conversations like these mute, but at the time, I could not rely on the internet for my answers. Not trusting Mike’s assertion, I did what every serious fantasy baseball owner would do:
I called the Red Sox public relations office. I battled with secretaries and team spokespeople until I was finally put in contact with the Pawtucket Red Sox assistant general manager, who confirmed that Wakefield was in the minor league system at the beginning of the year (while also confirming that I was the only fantasy baseball owner ever to call the front office).
Then, I convinced the assistant general manager to call Mike and confirm Wakefield’s presence on the team in April.
When Bob learned what I had done, he protested, stating that since he had put in a claim on Wakefield first, he should get the player, regardless of my efforts. Mike, however, sided with me, saying that I was the one who went the extra mile in confirming Wakefield’s place on the team and, therefore, I should get the player.
I think Mike was just jazzed by the fact that the assistant general manager of the Red Sox AAA squad had called him at work.
Thanks partly to Wakefield, I went on to win the league that season and promptly retired from all fantasy sports as champion.
Being the way I am, I could not play the game without the intensity of a major league pitcher, and having just started college the year before, I knew that my priorities lay elsewhere.
Rest in peace, Tim Wakefield. Despite playing nearly your entire career with the Red Sox, I always admired the way you played the game.
