Red Sox knuckeball hero Tim Wakefield dies at 57

BOSTON — Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballing workhorse of the Boston Red Sox who bounced back after giving up a seasonending home run to the New York Yankees in the 2003 playoffs to help the club win its cursebusting World Series title the following year, has died. He was 57.

The Red Sox announced their former pitcher’s death in a statement released Sunday that detailed not only his baseball statistics but a career full of charitable endeavors. Wakefield had brain cancer, according to former teammate Curt Schilling, who outed the illness on a podcast last week, drawing an outpouring of support for Wakefield. The Red Sox confirmed an illness at the time but did not elaborate, saying Wakefield had requested privacy.

“It’s one thing to be an outstanding athlete; it’s another to be an extraordinary human being. Tim was both,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said in the team’s statement. “I know the world was made better because he was in it.”

Drafted by the Pittsburgh

Pirates as a first baseman who set home run records in college, Wakefield converted to pitcher after mastering the knuckleball in the minor leagues. Relying on the old-timey pitch that had largely fallen into disuse, he went on to earn 200 wins in Major League Baseball, including 186 with the Red Sox, which is behind only Cy Young and Roger Clemens (192 each) in franchise history.

Wakefield won the Roberto Clemente Award for sportsmanship and community involvement in 2010 and was the Red Sox nominee seven other times. He was the team’s first Jimmy Fund captain, visiting with patients and raising funds for the childhood cancer charity, and the honorary chairman of the Red Sox Foundation.

The Pirates released a statement saying Wakefield “was a great man who will be dearly missed.”

Wakefield’s role in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry of the early 2000s turned him into a fan favorite whose impact went far beyond his numbers. The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to win their first championship in 86 years, then won it all again in 2007.