Knuckleball Pitcher Tim Wakefield : Red Sox legend dies at 57 from brain cancer

The Red Sox revealed World Series hero and knuck­le­ball pitch­er Tim Wake­field passed away. Ear­li­er, Curt Schilling exposed Wake­field pri­vate­ly bat­tled a dead­ly ill­ness. Wake­field threw the knuck­le­ball to great suc­cess for two decades.

Draft­ed as a hit­ter, Wake­field con­vert­ed to pitch­ing in the minors after mas­ter­ing the flut­ter­ing knuck­le­ball. He dom­i­nat­ed with the old-fash­ioned pitch, win­ning 200 career games, most­ly for Boston.

Wake­field­’s role in epic Red Sox-Yan­kees play­offs bat­tles of the ear­ly 2000s made him a fan favorite. After blow­ing a save in 2003, he helped Boston ral­ly from 0–3 down to stun New York and win in 2004.

Mak­ing his lone All-Star team at 45, Wake­field became the sec­ond old­est ever. He retired at 46 with the sec­ond most Red Sox wins, just short of the record.

Wake­field spent his retire­ment giv­ing back through char­i­ties. The Red Sox hon­ored his kind­ness and fight­ing spir­it which lift­ed many beyond base­ball. His loss deeply sad­dens the club and fans he inspired.