What Happened on that Summer Day I Met Tim Wakefield

Tim Wakefield (Photo: Wikipedia)

I was laying down on my bed, scrolling through Facebook, on a typical Sunday afternoon. I was thinking to myself on this first Sunday of October about baseball. This first Sunday used to be when the regular season ended for Major League Baseball. If I was lucky, the Boston Red Sox would be in the playoffs and I would be able to watch them again. If not, at least there would be more baseball for me to watch and I would get as much of it as I could before the last out of the World Series and I would have to wait until next year.

My scrolling stopped and I gasped out loud when I saw the news that Tim Wakefield had passed away. It was no secret he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. I broke the news to Wife. We had both known he was ill. We had no idea the cancer had spread as much or as fast as it did. Then again, we're not people who are paying attention to the news every waking moment of the day.

The Day I Met Tim Wakefield

One summer, I was at my in-laws' house on Cape Cod. My parents were invited down there this particular week. I needed to go to the store for some groceries. It was just me. Wife was home with The Oppressed. I'm not sure The Boy had blessed us with his arrival yet. If he had at this point, he would have been in diapers. I pulled into a parking space and cut the ignition. Before I could get out, someone in a blue Audi convertible caught my eye. He appeared to be looking down at his cell phone. Two small children were sitting in the front seat.

"Man," I said to myself. "That guy looks just like Tim Wakefield."

Between my wife and my kids, there are enough people creeped out by me, already.

His head was down and he was behind a windshield, so it was hard for me to tell for sure. Minutes passed as I sat there mentally going back and forth between, "It's him!" and "No, that can't be him." Just as I had convinced myself it wasn't the knuckleball pitcher-turned-NESN analyst, someone walking in the next row yelled, "Loved watching you play!" The NESN knuckleball throwing analyst looked up from his scrolling, waved, and yelled, "Thank you very much!"

"Holy cow!" I said to myself. "That's Tim Wakefield!"

Taking a deep breath, I got out of my car and slowly walked up to him. You hear a lot of stories about people going nuts and creeping out celebrities. Between my wife and my kids, there are enough people creeped out by me, already. I walked up to his car. He had gone back to his phone.

"Mr. Wakefield?" I asked when I approached.

"Yeah?" he answered looking up.

I stuck out my hand and said, "I just wanted to say thank you."

He was just as surprised as I was. Imagine, someone needing to go to the grocery store.

"Aww, no problem. Thank you very much," he said as he shook my hand. I wasn't there for more than a minute. telling him how much I loved watching him pitch and hoped he enjoyed his well-earned retirement. I also said a quick hello to the two little children in the back seat who kept looking at me, probably wondering who this guy was who randomly walked up to him when he was just minding his own business, waiting on whoever it was to finish their shopping. As I walked away from the car and toward the store, I heard one of the children ask him, "Why do people keep thanking you?"

The grocery shopping wasn't a big, long errand that day. Just a few things were needed, probably for dinner. When I walked out of the store, "Wake", the two kids, and whoever they were waiting for were gone. The blue Audi was gone. There was just an empty parking space that would soon be occupied by someone who would need to go shopping and go on to the next thing in their life.

Returning to my in-laws' house, I dropped the bag of groceries off on the table and went outside. My father was sitting on the deck reading. I told him "Wake" was at the store. Dad was a little confused until I explained who I was referring to. He was just as surprised as I was. Imagine, someone needing to go to the grocery store.

My Nephew had Questions

Photo: Wikipedia

My nephew was in elementary school at the time, so it was obvious I needed to tell him about this.

"What did you say to him?" my nephew asked me.

I said the following to my nephew:

"I went up to him and I shook the man's hand. I said to him, 'Wake. WAKE! I love you, man. I love you. I still remember the day the Red Sox signed you. I said the Red Sox are going to win the World Series in 10 years. You won it in nine. I said 10. I was wrong. I said 10. You did it in nine. I was off by one.'

"I put my arm around his shoulder, and I said, 'Wake, I'm only saying this because I love you.' I look over my shoulder to make sure it's just him and me. When I see there's no one else around, I said to him, 'Wake, I gotta tell you, Pal. I know somebody. I'm not gonna tell you who, because I'm not like that, but I know somebody. They like to play video games and they like to play baseball video games. He's always the Red Sox, and the first thing he does when he plays a game is he finds you on the roster. He doesn't trade you. He doesn't release you. You know what he does, Wake? He DELETES YOU!!!'"

My nephew was shocked. He couldn't believe I had the audacity to say such a thing about him. I reminded him I never mentioned any names to Wakefield, but if there was something he wanted to share, I was all ears.

The Pitcher and the Man

There is story I did hear about Wakefield. If this is true, I think it's important to share it given what's said about professional athletes today. According to the story, Tim Wakefield would go to Dana Farber on his own time to visit young cancer patients. This was done without his agent knowing. It was done without the media knowing. He just walked in and said he would like to say hello to the kids. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. If it is true, it doesn't surprise anyone who followed his career and watched him pitch.