2004 Red Sox remember Tim Wakefield
When members of the 2004 Red Sox gather at Fenway Park on Tuesday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their historic victory, one player’s absence will be keenly, painfully felt.
For the first time in nearly three decades, Tim Wakefield, the beloved knuckleballer who made the Red Sox and Boston his forever homes, will not attend Fenway’s home opener. He passed away Oct. 1 after battling brain cancer. His wife, Stacy, passed away at the end of February.
In recent days, the first World Series champions this city had in 86 years have poured into the city, eager to make the most of the time together and honor their beloved teammate.
“It was supposed to be a quiet night last night, around four o’clock I think we tucked it in,” revealed Derek Lowe at the Foundation To Be Named Later’s ’04 roundtable event benefitting its Gammons Scholars Program and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s Strike 3 Foundation. “A lot of these guys I haven’t seen in 10 years. Story time, man. You sit around and tell stories, it seems like a long time ago. A lot of talk about Wake. Obviously, we all miss him and how much he would love this.”
“The Wake thing is probably the thing that is front and center in all our minds right now, as it should be,” agreed longtime Sox manager Terry Francona. “We’ll certainly spend time, as we should, toasting them.”
“Good memories and sad memories,” Manny Ramirez said. “The good memory is we won two championships, I met my wife in Boston,
and (the sad is) we lost Tim.”
Fenway won’t be the same without Wakefield. The ’04 team, those lovable, confounding, heroic “Idiots,” are not the same without their teammate who was so much more than just a teammate: a friend, role model, their brother.
“He was extremely tough when I was a rookie, hard on us,” Lowe recalled. “But the biggest thing for me is what he did off the field. He did so much for charity, didn’t ask for the cameras to show up, did it for the right reasons.”
Orlando Cabrera wore a “49” baseball cap to Monday’s event. Like many of his teammates, he still can’t believe Wakefield is gone.
“It’s just so devastating,” said the former infielder, who joined the ’04 Sox at the midsummer trade deadline. “For that to happen to such an unbelievable guy, it’s just, I don’t know. I don’t want to say the wrong thing about the beliefs of anybody but he’s just not the right person to die, you know, to get (cancer).”
Wakefield was the heart and soul of the Sox, a devoted philanthropist who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of everyone around him and inspired David Ortiz and countless others to follow in his footsteps.
“He was a Red Sock,” said Lowe. “He played his whole career here, which I think a lot of us wish we could.”
“The way he was every day,” Cabrera said. “The way he was on the field, off the field, the things that he taught you how to become, such an impact.”
That’s why in many ways, Wakefield will be everywhere at Fenway on Tuesday. He lives on in the hearts of his family, friends, and fans. This year’s team will carry him with them in the heart-shaped “49” patches on their jersey sleeves.
Manny still being Manny as ’04 champs descend on Fenway Park
“I want to play again, because I need 400 hits for 3,000,” an enthusiastic Manny Ramirez said. “I think they need my bat!”
If there was any doubt that the fan-favorite slugger is still just “Manny being Manny” after all these years, he put that to rest at the Foundation To Be Named Later’s roundtable event Monday.
Ramirez and several of his 2004 teammates are in town for the Red Sox home opener. Tuesday’s pregame ceremonies will include 20th anniversary celebrations and tributes to their late teammate, Wakefield. The Sox will also honor longtime team president Larry Lucchino, who passed away last week.
Ramirez never officially retired, and since his last Major League game with the 2011 Tampa Bay Rays, he’s traversed the globe to keep his game going. There have been minor league deals, a season in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, an offseason in the Dominican Professional Baseball League, a stint in Japanese independent ball, and a contract with the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League.
In eight delightful, chaotic, epic years in Boston, Ramirez cemented himself on the franchise leaderboards: third in slugging percentage (.588) and OPS (.999), fifth in on-base percentage (.411), sixth in home runs (274), seventh in RBI (868), ninth in runs created (955) and extra-base hits (537), 10th in total bases (2,324).
There are only 33 batters in MLB’s 3,000-hit club. Even 426 knocks shy, the slugger was one of the greatest of his generation. His 2,574 hits rank 91st alltime, and his 555 homers and 437 doubles are 15th and 34th in MLB history, respectively.
Assuming he can’t get in Tuesday’s lineup, Ramirez had another idea for how to relive the good old days.
“I want to come out out of left field,” he said, referring to how he’d occasionally disappear through the door in the Green Monster during games.
Red Sox option Bobby Dalbec to Triple-A for newcomer on slugging streak
Ahead of Tuesday’s home opener, the Red Sox optioned Bobby Dalbec to Triple-A in exchange for a fellow infielder who’s been tearing the covers off minor league baseballs.
After spending most of the ’23 season in TripleA, Dalbec put together a solid spring training and claimed a bench spot on the Opening Day roster. He saw limited playing time on the 10-game west coast trip, making one start, appearing in five other games and going 0-for-9 with six strikeouts.
Though the Red Sox initially announced the transaction without a corresponding move, a source confirmed that Roman “Romy” González will take Dalbec’s place.
The 27-year-old infielder is a newcomer to the organization, claimed off waivers from the White Sox at the end of January. Chicago selected him in the 18th round of the 2018 June draft, and he debuted in early September ’21. He appeared in 86 games for the White Sox over the past three seasons, and is a career .222/.239/.361 hitter with 86 strikeouts and just five walks at the bigleague level.
In 17 spring training games, González collected eight hits (.242) including a double and home run, scored four times, drove in a pair of RBI, and was perfect in four stolen base attempts. In seven WooSox games, he’s 9-for-28 (.321) with a double, two triples, three home runs, including a grand slam.