The post below was written on Saturday. On Sunday, while heading back into Boston from a trip to Brookfield Orchard with my sister Trish and niece Molly, Molly saw on her phone that Boston that former Red Sox knuckleballer, and current game analyst on NESN had died.
We had just been talking about Wake, mostly in the context of talking about what a dick former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is (see below), and what a great guy Wakefield was.
This is such sad news for Red Sox Nation. Wake was universally beloved, not for his athletic brilliance - of course he was a great athlete: you don't make and stick in the pros if you're not - but for the fact that he was such a good guy.
I teared up a bit when Molly passed the news on to us. When we hurtled by Fenway Park - which you can see from the Mass Pike - we saluted Tim Wakefield.
The post below still stands.
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I have a (generation-younger) friend who is a breast cancer survivor. Her diagnosis and treatment are now about six or seven years in the rearview mirror, and so far, so good.
At the same time my friend was undergoing her treatment, her husband was diagnosed with and treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His lymphoma recurred and he underwent a stem cell transplant. His cancer re-recurred last year, but the chemo regime they have him on seems to be doing some good, and is at least keeping worse things at bay.
This couple has two kids who were pre-adolescents when this all began, and who are now teenagers.
When children are involved, the serious, possibly terminal, illness of a parent is devastating to family life. (Been there, done that, on the kid end of things.) I cannot imagine how terrible it must be when the health of both parents is at stake.
I thought of this the other day when I heard that former Red Sox pitcher (and current Red Sox analyst on NESN) Tim
Wakefield and his wife both have cancer. "Bad" cancers, not "good" cancers like thyroid and prostate that are (relatively) easily treatable and generally survivable. From what I've read (unconfirmed), Tim Wakefield has an aggressive form of brain caner; Stacy Wakefield has pancreatic cancer (never a good thing).
The Wakefields have two kids. Not as young as my friend's children were when she and her husband were first battling their illnesses, but - I looked it up - the Wakefield kids are still pretty young. Both kids are in their late teens. An age when you are really not prepared for the death of a parent (been there, done that), let alone having to contemplate the death of both parents.
I am a long-time, exceedingly devoted fan of the Red Sox.
Tim Wakefield isn't one of the greatest Red Sox players of all time. He's not destined for the Hall of Fame. He's no Ted Williams. He's no Pedro Martinez. Et al.
But I've always liked Tim Wakefield.
What's not to like? He was a gamer on the field, and a model of community involvement off the field. (He's a long-time supporter of the Jimmy Fund, an organization, closely associated with the Red Sox, devoted to wiping out cancer in kids.) He always came across as kind, even-tempered, generous, and humble. Plus he was a pretty good-looking guy. (The kind of good-looking guy that middle-aged and old-crone women crush on.)
The only Red Sox player I can think of who was as universally beloved as Tim Wakefield is the late Johnny Pesky, who was a teammate of Ted Williams and was associated with the Red Sox for most of his adult life. He died at the age of 93.
No one ever had an unkind word to say about Johnny Pesky. No one ever had an unkind word to say about Tim Wakefield.
Perhaps this was because neither of these men trafficked in unkind words, at least publicly.
Good guys!
There are many ballplayers who aren't exactly good guys, and chief in my annals of former Red Sox who are pretty much the anti-mensch, there's Curt Schilling.
As a Red Sox fan, I have some gratitude to Schilling for the instrumental role he played in helping the Red Sox reverse the "curse of the Bambino" and win the World Series in 2004. For sheer drama, it's hard to match the famed "bloody sock" game he pitched in - the sixth game of the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, when the Sox came back after getting drubbed in the first three games to winning the AL pennant. (Schilling had a stitched up tendon injury that quite visibly bled through.) The Red Sox winning that series against the Yankees was the high point of my life as a fan. After the ALCS playoff, winning the World Series that year was anticlimactic, inevitable almost.
So, belated thanks, Curt Schilling, for your role there.
But, other than that, Curt Schilling has done little to endear himself to me.
He's a a loud-mouth MAGA who is always getting in trouble with comments that most normal folks interpret as god-awful. E.g., anti-Muslim, anti-trans. He collects Nazi paraphernalia. (Big yewwwww.) And he's a colossal know-it-all who managed to run a gaming software company into bankruptcy after hornswoggling the state of Rhode Island into investing in it.
Schilling just comes across as a complete jerk. I'm sure he has friends. There are a lot of complete jerks out there and, of course, they find each other, and no doubt revel in each other's company. But I don't imagine that there's any part of the universe in which Curt Schilling is as beloved by former teammates and fans as is Tim Wakefield.
And Schilling's role in outing the health issues Tim and Stacy Wakefield are coping with does nothing to improve my opinion of him.
Last week, on his podcast, Schilling said the following:
“Tim Wakefield … the knuckleballer, is sick. And I talked to [former teammate, former Red Sox catcher] Doug Mirabelli yesterday, and it’s not a message that Tim has asked anyone to share and I’m not even sure if he wants it shared. But as a Christian and a man of faith, I have seen prayer work, and so I’m going to talk about it. …Tomorrow is never, ever a given. Tim’s wife, Stacy, who is one of the sweetest women you’ll ever meet, is very sick with pancreatic cancer. … We’re all thinking about them and praying for her. But recently, Tim was diagnosed with a very serious, very aggressive form of brain cancer.
The following day, Red Sox issued a statement which was approved by the Wakefields:
We are aware of the statements and inquiries about the health of Tim and Stacy Wakefield, Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly without their permission. Their health is a deeply personal matter they intended to keep private as they navigate treatment and work to tackle this disease.
Tim and Stacy are appreciative of the support and love that has always been extended to them and respectfully ask for privacy at this time. (Source: Boston Globe)
My favorite response was from the Twitter account of Catherine Varitek, wife of former Red Sox catcher (and current Red Sox coach) Jason Varitek. Varitek was a teammate of both Schilling and Wakefield. Ms. Varitek tweeted:
Fuck you Curt Schilling, that wasn’t your place!She spoke for so many member of Red Sox nation and, I'm sure gained plenty of new Twitter followers. Not just me.
Look, I'm sure that Schilling was upset to hear the news, which it sounds like he got second-hand from another teammate. Schilling and Wake are roughly the same age. I'm sure the news hit close to home. And I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he wanted to pray for his former colleague and his wife.
But you'd have thought that, before he shot of his big, podcasting mouth, he'd have waited just a dern minute.
Schilling gives himself a way when he podcasted:
...it’s not a message that Tim has asked anyone to share and I’m not even sure if he wants it shared.
So why didn't he check things out before he ran with his scoop. Why didn't he ask the guy who told him (Doug Mirabelli, who was the designated Red Sox catcher for Wakefield because Mirabelli could catch a knuckleball)? Why didn't he google to see whether the news was out?
No, he had to go ahead and show-off that he was in the know.
He could certainly have asked for prayers without outing Wakefield.
How about this:
I've just heard that a former teammate of mine and his wife have both been diagnosed with cancer.
Then he could have gone honking on about being a Christian and the power of prayer.
Was Schilling afraid that this would set off wild speculation about who he was talking about? Schilling played for a few teams over the course of his career. Five teams and a long career makes for a lot of possibilities. Wild speculation? So what!
Was he afraid that there wouldn't be as many prayers if he didn't name names? Brother...
I'm sure that if Curt Schilling were a nicer guy, people would be cutting him plenty of slack. After he learned about Wakefield from the Schilling podcast, another former Red Sox - Wade Boggs - tweeted out the news. But after he learned that the news wasn't supposed to be out, he sent out an apology tweet. No one's mad at Wade Boggs.
But Curt Schilling is a big blowhard who always has to play the big man. Everything always has to be about him. ("...as a Christian, as a man of faith").
In his podcast, he issued something of a pre-apology:
And if they didn't want this to be public, I sincerely apologize, but I do believe that a gigantic, worldwide Red Sox Nation group hug and prayers is warranted for this one.
Pre-apology not accepted. Schilling sure had a feeling that going public might not be what the Wakefields wanted.
And I'm with the Wakefield children. Facing the prospect of the death of a parent is a terrible burden for a kid to shoulder, even if they are on the cusp of adulthood and think they're all grown up. (Been there, done that.) The prospect of losing both parents in short order - which, if things are as dire as Schilling has said - is certainly a possibility, is exponentially more terrible.
I don't pray, but if I did, I'd be prayers up for the Wakefield children.
Meanwhile, I'm with Catherine Varitek on this one.
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