November 5, 2010
For Roberto Clemente Award winner Tim Wakefield, outreach is the perfect pitch
Jimmy Fund Co-captain earns Major League Baseball honor
Tim Wakefield, in his captain's jersey after being named as one of the first Jimmy Fund Co-Captains with fellow Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz.
As a knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield throws a dipping, darting pitch that is predictable only in its unpredictability. Hitters, catchers, and even Wakefield himself never know quite where the ball will end up.
When it comes to helping others off the field, however, the Boston Red Sox right-hander has always been straight and true. Since joining the Sox in the summer of 1995, the right-hander with the huge heart has made a huge impact on the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber community through his many Jimmy Fund Clinic visits, his "Wakefield Warriors" program, and by serving this year as one of the first Jimmy Fund Co-Captains with fellow Boston pitcher Clay Buchholz — helping raise awareness and building support for cancer care and research as an ambassador for Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund.
These as well as his many other community outreach endeavors recently earned Wakefield the 2010 Roberto Clemente Award from Major League Baseball, an honor presented annually to the player who "best represents the game of baseball through sportsmanship, community involvement and positive contributions to his club." For families and staff associated with Dana-Farber, the distinction is affirmation of what they've known all along: Wakefield tops the charts in character and class.
"As a pitcher, Tim is a fierce competitor and a proven winner, but his contributions off the field are far more impressive," says Jimmy Fund Director Suzanne Fountain. "Whether visiting with our teen patients during their Red Sox Spring Training trip or bringing the World Series trophy to Dana-Farber's clinics, Tim has the ability to connect with patients of all ages. His kindness and compassion are truly genuine."
He also has a keen understanding of history. "Every time I walk out to the mound and see that Jimmy Fund emblem out on the Green Monster, I am reminded of the special role the team has played in helping fight cancer since Ted Williams was visiting with patients at Dana-Farber back in the 1950s," says Wakefield. "I'm proud to be a part of it."
Carrying them all
Wakefield makes a big impression not just because he attends various events, but because he makes a lasting impact when doing so.
In Chicago, Robby Coughlin got a lift from his hero.
Robby Coughlin of Framingham, Mass., met the pitcher during a Jimmy Fund Clinic patient trip to Chicago to see the Red Sox take on the White Sox in August 2008. Coughlin was with about 40 other teenage patients and their chaperones behind the visitor's dugout at U.S. Cellular Field when Wakefield spotted him trying to hop down 10 rows of stairs. The 15-year-old had lost a leg four months earlier due to osteosarcoma (bone cancer) treatment, but he was so excited to meet his baseball heroes that he left his crutches at his seat.
Reacting immediately, Wakefield vaulted the short fence separating the field from where the clinic group was seated, ran up to Coughlin, and wound up literally carrying him on his back down to the front row. The teen said he was left "basically in shock" by the gesture, and it left an impression on all who witnessed it. As Lisa Scherber, Director of Patient and Family Programs at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center, explains: "When he carried Robby, he carried them all."
By allowing Jimmy Fund Clinic patients to lift the Red Sox's 2004 World Series trophy that December, Wakefield also lifted their spirits.
No back rides were needed when Wakefield brought the World Series trophy to Dana-Farber after the Sox ended their 86-year title drought in 2004, but once again he was embraced by patients and staff of all ages, posing for numerous photos and engaging in one-on-one conversations with all who approached him.
Helping get people away from the hospital is yet another area where this athlete shines. In 1998 he started the Wakefield Warriors, a program that allows him to meet with a different pediatric patient from the Jimmy Fund Clinic or Franciscan Hospital for Children at Fenway Park before each Tuesday home game during the regular season. The kids get to watch batting practice and take their minds off their illnesses, while he gets to give back, just as he does each summer by taking part in the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon or as he did when he visited Dana-Farber's clinics with his wife, Stacy, to hand out gift cards during the holidays several years ago.
"He's just an amazing person, and sees what patients are going through as so much harder than what he does," adds Scherber. "It's wonderful to have watched him through the years and see how he has developed relationships with these families. And of course he never wants recognition for it."
Now he's received it on a national level, and his many admirers at Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund could not be happier.
— Saul Wisnia
saul_wisnia@dfci.harvard.edu
