The Red Sox will be wearing ‘49’ patches to honor the late, great Tim Wakefield this season.
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) February 19, 2024
According to Red Sox beat reporter Gabrielle Starr, who covers the team for The Boston Herald, the Sox will be adding a “49” memorial patch this season for former pitcher Tim Wakefield, who died of brain cancer last October.
The team has not yet confirmed Starr’s report.
It’s not yet clear where the patch will be worn on the uniform. It’s also not clear whether the patch will be a simple black circle with “49” or if it will be more elaborate than that. (I’m rooting for a hand holding a baseball with a knuckleball grip, with “49” on the baseball.)
Wakefield played 17 seasons for the Red Sox — the fourth most in team history, trailing only Carl Yastrzemski (23 season), Ted Williams (19), and Dwight Evans (19). He’s the team’s all-time leader innings pitched (3,006) and starts (430), and is No. 2 in wins (186, second to Roger Clemens’s 192), strikeouts (2,046, again second only to Clemens).
The last time the Red Sox wore a memorial on their uniforms was in 2022, when they wore a “Remy 2” left-sleeve patch for former player and broadcaster Jerry Remy:
The Sox currently wear a sleeve advertisement that can appear on either the left or right sleeve depending on the player’s handedness, to maximize TV exposure. So the new Wakefield patch will end up either on the less-exposed sleeve or, perhaps, on the chest.
(My thanks to our own Anthony Emerson for alerting me to this news.)
Bruins broadcasters wore a pin with “49” inside of a heart after Wakefield’s death (Wakefield had done Red Sox analysis work for NESN, which also broadcasts Bruins games). I wonder if the memorial patch will look similar:
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They’re giving away hats with the number inside a heart for a game in April, seems like it’s a good possibility this will be the design of the memorial patch as well:
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Excelente iniciativa de honrar a ese gran lanzador de Boston Redsox
I expect it to be on the chest.
The best athlete to come out of my alma mater Florida Tech, and a genuinely nice guy. He would frequently come down and do alumni events.
Also, point of fact, he is second in Red Sox wins to Clemens and Cy Young-both pitchers won 192 games. for Boston.
Which means he is actually third on the Red Sox all-time wins list. Which is not to diminish what he meant to the Red Sox organization. It’s just a factual hobby horse of mine.
You have to have that grip on the patch somehow. Either on a ball or on the top of the 9. That would be a great tribute.
At first I read this as “Red Sox to wear 49 patches this season”, which seemed like overkill. Unless you work at Chotskie’s.