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The Sports Network
Fort Myers, FL (Sports Network) - Tim Wakefield is retiring from the game of
baseball.
The 45-year-old knuckleballer will make his announcement during a Friday press
conference at JetBlue Park, the spring training home of the Red Sox in Fort
Myers, Florida.
Wakefield spent the final 17 seasons of his 19-year major league career with
Boston and helped the club to a pair of World Series titles.
An All-Star for the first and only time in 2009, he was 200-180 with a 4.41
earned run average in 627 games -- 463 starts -- with the Pittsburgh Pirates
and Boston. All but 14 of his victories came as a member of the Red Sox,
placing him third on the club's all-time wins list. He trails only Cy Young
and Roger Clemens, both of whom had 192.
The oldest player in the majors last season, Wakefield posted a 7-8 record
with a 5.12 ERA in 33 games, 23 of them starts.
He earned his 200th career win on September 13 against visiting Toronto and in
his next appearance -- September 18 versus Tampa Bay -- became the first Red
Sox hurler to reach 3,000 innings pitched with the team.
Only Carl Yastrzemski (23), Ted Williams (19) and Dwight Evans (19) played
more years with the Red Sox.
Wakefield burst onto the scene in 1992 with the Pirates, befuddling the
National League in 13 starts that season with an 8-1 record and a 2.15 ERA. He
helped Pittsburgh to a division title and posted two wins in a pair of starts
against Atlanta in the NLCS.
After struggling to a 6-11 mark with a 5.61 ERA the following season for a
rebuilding Pittsburgh team, Wakefield found himself in the minors for the
entire 1994 campaign before latching on with Boston in '95.
He helped the Red Sox to a division crown in 1995 and also pitched in the
postseason for Boston in 1998, '99, 2003, '04, '05, '07 and '08.
The Sports Network