Tim Wakefield has been in Major League Baseball since 1992. I was six years old when he threw his first major league pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates. At the time of his retirement, Wakefield was the oldest active player in the majors. The most amazing thing about all of that is that he was drafted to play a position he wasn't good at and wouldn't be able to form a career around. Tim Wakefield was drafted to play first base, and when a scout told him that he wasn't going to last long playing a position he started playing around with the knuckleball.
Think about that. Tim Wakefield's career was basically fated to end when he made the inscrutable decision to start throwing the sparsely seen knuckleball. This decision established the roots of a career spanning two decades, two World Series rings, exactly two hundred career wins, over two thousand strikeouts and one career home run.... yeah that's true! His legacy won't be his domination, he wasn't that dominating pitcher. It will be a testament to determination and endurance. Thanks for a fun, and unlikely career, Tim.
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