BOSTON — It’s not uncommon for kids to go out to the backyard and play catch with their dad.
What is uncommon is when the dad is a former big-league pitcher.
And when Dad happens to have been a longtime practitioner of the tricky and dreaded knuckleball, that’s off-the-charts unusual. But so it was with the late Tim Wakefield and his two kids, Trevor and Brianna. Like most dads, he played catch with the kids. Like hardly any dads, he taught them how to throw a knuckleball.
Which brings us to Fenway Park, Tuesday afternoon, Opening Day, Red Sox versus Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox held a pregame ceremony in memory of Wakefield and his wife, Stacy, both of whom died of cancer over the past six months. The club also remembered longtime Sox president Larry Lucchino, who died last week.
When it came time for someone to throw out a ceremonial first pitch, it was Brianna Wakefield, an 18-year-old high school senior who’ll be headed to Boston College this fall, who toed the Fenway rubber. Now for everyone who was at Fenway Park on Tuesday afternoon, for everyone who was watching on television, for everyone who was listening to Hall of Fame-bound Joe Castiglione call the game over the radio, the answer to your question is yes, yes, yes, of course Brianna Wakefield took a very Tim…
