BOSTON -- The first pitch that mattered most was not the one that Brayan Bello threw at 95.8 mph in Boston’s eventual 7-1 loss to the Orioles in the 113th home opener at Fenway Park back on April 9.
No, it was thrown a few minutes earlier, and the radar-gun reading wasn’t necessary.
Approximately 40 players from the fabled 2004 Red Sox stood behind 18-year-old Brianna Wakefield, and their hearts were full while watching her throw the ceremonial first pitch to Red Sox coach Jason Varitek.
“It was a beautiful moment for the fans and their family,” Varitek said.
Tim Wakefield, the venerable Red Sox knuckleballer from 1995-2011, and, in retirement, the honorary chairman of the team’s charitable foundation, died of complications from brain cancer on the final day of the 2023 regular season. The Red Sox were in Baltimore that day.
Stacy Wakefield, Tim’s wife, died in February after a lengthy bout with pancreatic cancer.
The home opener was the first baseball game at Fenway since their deaths.
“[The day] was about Tim and Stacy and Brianna and Trevor [Wakefield’s 20-year-old son] and rightfully so,” said former Red Sox right fielder Trot Nixon. “And I remember hearing a quote, 'If you're not impacting somebody's life and putting a smile on their face, you're simply wasting your time.' And I think Tim did an unbelievable job of doing that when he was here.”
Though she wasn’t in the same spotlight as Tim Wakefield during his pitching career, Stacy was every bit as civic-minded. He stood by her at basically every charitable endeavor for the two decades they were together.
Perhaps Johnny Damon, who brought back his ‘04 long hair and beard for Tuesday’s reunion, said it best.
“They just don't celebrate everybody [like this],” Damon said. “Tim Wakefield and Stacy deserve to be celebrated because they were just wonderful people.”
Nobody knows that better than Varitek. Long before Varitek became a coach, he was the captain and catcher of the Red Sox, guiding the club to a pair of World Series titles with Wakefield as his teammate. And Varitek was also one of Tim Wakefield’s best friends, a bond that strengthened in their post-playing days, living next door to each other in a Boston suburb.
In the six months since Wakefield died, and more recently following Stacy’s death, Varitek and his wife Catherine have been there for Brianna and Trevor at every turn.
Varitek was asked a few hours after the emotional ceremony how much Trevor and Brianna mean to him.
“A tremendous amount. It's what their parents meant to us, in Stacy and Tim, and we're just trying to reciprocate that friendship with them,” Varitek said.
That left little doubt as to who would catch Brianna’s pitch.
“I don't think Brianna would've given anybody else a choice,” Varitek said. “She made sure last night. She said, ‘You are catching, right?’ I said, ‘I'm in the bullpen, but I'll make it down there.’ It was emotional. It was really emotional, but she held herself like a champ, and I'm proud of the young lady that she is.”
Brianna threw the pitch wearing a home white Red Sox uniform with her father’s No. 49 on the back.
It was a spine-tingling moment for just about everyone who inhabited Fenway Park on April 9.
“To see the kids coming in [from the outfield] with everybody around them kind of tells you who Wake was, and Stacy,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “That’s where my mind went. I had Tek here [to my left] , and I had [long-time clubhouse attendant] Tommy [McLaughlin] here to my right, so I had to be like a good brother and be there for them. But it was very emotional.”
Once Brianna threw her pitch, Damon handed her the ‘04 World Series trophy.
“I just thought it was fitting for her to walk off the field with the World Series trophy, and it was such a great day,” Damon said.
In an emotional private ceremony that happened earlier in the day, it was former Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin who told Trevor and Brianna they will always have support from the 40 or so honorary uncles who teamed with their father on that ‘04 Sox team.
“Our team is a family,” said Damon. “We overcame a lot of obstacles in 2004. And from that time on, we continue to be a family and we love everybody.”
On April 9, nobody felt the love more than Trevor and Brianna Wakefield.