Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

Zolak & Bertrand

Tim Wakefield, the rare Boston athlete that was universally loved

Author

After the passing of Tim Wakefield on Sunday, the Zolak & Bertrand crew shared their thoughts on what made him such a special figure in the city of Boston.

Not too many athletes are loved by everyone…

Marc Bertrand: Horrible, horrible news and a real gut punch to anyone who has been a Red Sox fan for decades and has known Tim Wakefield to be a part of that experience for decades. Whether you watched him on the field or saw him in the booth or were touched by him in some way for all the charity work that he did with the Red Sox Foundation and Jimmy Fund.

This just feels really, really bad that Tim Wakefield, who everybody knew and loved, and that’s the thing I think that sticks out about Tim Wakefield and why this feels so bad and it’s so sad. He was in the rare class of Boston athlete who was universally liked. Really just universally liked, was never controversial as a player, really wasn’t.

We talk about players all the time, right? As fans, as media, you’re talking about the team. You’re criticizing a player. Tim Wakefield was never that guy. You will not find someone who says, ugh Tim Wakefield can’t stand that guy.

I’m talking strictly as a player, not as a person now, right as a player, which is how most people know him as a player. But I think it spoke to who he was from a personality standpoint too and I think everyone views that guy as who he truly was, which was a class act all the way. That’s who Tim Wakefield was.

So, I think that’s why it hurts because you rooted for him as a player. You had to have liked him. If you’re a Red Sox fan, you like Tim Wakefield. The more you know of him, the more you think of him.

Scott Zolak: I just like nice guys. Like I’ve done some stuff with him in the off-seasons, where you run into him at golf tournaments or events or speaking things that you do together. Sometimes you do it like, ‘Oh, this guy’s a phony.’ You know, this guy doesn’t like people. He’s just coming here and taking a check.

It’s one of THE most genuine guys I’ve been around in Boston. Just knowing the effect he had on people, with the Jimmy Fund and helping kids out. Just a likable guy who was different. He was a knuckleball pitcher. He wasn’t a guy that’s gonna blow you away with 98.

Tyler Milliken ⚾️ on Twitter: "9/13/2011: Tim Wakefield wins the 200th game of his big league career.It was also his final win before retiring at the end of the season.He finished with 186 wins in a Red Sox uniform, which ranks 3rd all-time behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young. pic.twitter.com/5QpnIEJkMS / Twitter"

9/13/2011: Tim Wakefield wins the 200th game of his big league career.It was also his final win before retiring at the end of the season.He finished with 186 wins in a Red Sox uniform, which ranks 3rd all-time behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young. pic.twitter.com/5QpnIEJkMS

Listen to the full segment!

Tyler Milliken started out at the Sports Hub as an intern in 2020 for the Zolak & Bertrand program before eventually becoming the associate producer in late 2021. He often joins the baseball conversation on Zolak & Bertrand and is a contributor to The Baseball Hour throughout the season. Along with that, he has been a co-host on DraftKings Name Redacted Podcast with Jared Carrabis for the last two years, where they cover everything going on with the Red Sox. Born and raised in Brockton, he reps the city proudly.

Alex Cora issues strong statement when it comes to his Red Sox future

The Boston Red Sox may have already parted ways with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom before the end of the 2023 season, but will not be a full-on house cleaning for club this offseason.

Not if Red Sox manager Alex Cora is telling the truth when it comes to his future with the club, anyway.

Holding court with the media before Wednesday’s home finale at Fenway Park, Cora outright said, “I’ll be here next year” when the subject of his future came up. When asked to clarify, Cora repeated the line, and noted he’s “good.”

For what it’s worth, it’s the closest thing to a definitive answer anybody in the media has heard thus far when it comes to Cora’s future following yet another last-place finish for Boston. But it stands to reason that Cora is not exactly speaking out of turn here, especially when you consider the confident tone behind his answers to those questions.

  • Perhaps Cora’s future with the club shouldn’t be in question at all.

    After all, the Red Sox did pick up his option for 2023 and 2024 way back in 2021.But that, of course, was a decision made by — or at the very least had the blessing of — a man who’s since been ousted from his post, so it was fair to wonder if that was indeed still the case.

    Cora has also shown that he has the ability to guide a team to postseason success, as he helped lead the Red Sox to a World Series title in his first year on the job back in 2018, and helped take the Sox to the American League Championship Series in 2021.

  • Sep 4, 2023; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) looks on from the dugout against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

    Sep 4, 2023; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) looks on from the dugout against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning at Tropicana Field. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports)

  • One interesting wrinkle here is whether or not Cora will return as the manager of the Red Sox or if he will transition into a front-office role with the club.

    There’s always been rumblings of Cora being interested in eventually moving from the dugout to the general manager’s box. Earlier this month, Cora said that being a general manager is “something that intrigues me.”

    And perhaps the Bloom disaster full of clear-and-obvious disagreements between the two in regards to how the roster was being constructed is reason enough for Cora to realize that he would officially prefer being a chief decision maker over having to constantly work with what’s been given to him.

  • Jul 28, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora runs back to the dugout after making a pitching change against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

    Jul 28, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; Red Sox manager Alex Cora runs back to the dugout after making a pitching change against the Giants during the sixth inning at Oracle Park. (D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports)

  • In the days and week following Bloom’s dismissal, the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen has emerged as a name to watch when it comes to Boston’s vacant front-office post.

    Hazen getting the job would seemingly be good news for Cora, too, as Hazen worked under Dave Dombrowski, if there’s anything to be learned from the Dombrowski vs. Bloom era, it’s that’s the former’s approach is clearly the general manager approach that Cora wants to work under.

    Overall, the 47-year-old Cora has compiled a 438-368 record (.543 winning percentage) as Boston’s manager from 2018 through 2023, though Cora missed the 2020 season due to a suspension by MLB.

Get The 98.5 The Sports Hub Newsletter Delivered To Your Inbox

Stay up to date with the latest Boston sports news and analysis, local events, exclusive contests, and more.

*
By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.
Author
Category:
Tags:
,

More Zolak & Bertrand

Load More