Watch: Mariners pitcher George Kirby throws knuckleball as tribute to Tim Wakefield

Crimson Sox

“I cherished watching that man throw, regardless that he is a Crimson Sox participant and I am a born Yankee fan.”

George Kirby throwing a pitch on Sunday’s sport towards the Texas Rangers. Lindsey Wasson/AP Photograph

Tim Wakefield’s dying on Sunday left your complete baseball world shocked. A lot of Wakefield’s teammates and colleagues paid tribute to the previous Crimson Sox pitcher by social media posts, heartfelt interviews, and narrated movies detailing his many accomplishments on and off the sphere.

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Even individuals who had been by no means affiliated with the Crimson Sox or Wakefield paid their respects to the two-time World Collection winner. Within the fourth inning of Seattle’s 1-0 victory towards Texas on Sunday, beginning pitcher George Kirby threw a 73.2 mph pitch to Corey Seager, who swung and missed. 

However this wasn’t simply any pitch. It was a knuckleball, the signature pitch of Wakefield. It was the primary knuckleball Kirby had ever thrown on the main league stage, and he selected to debut it on Sunday as his manner of honoring Wakefield. 

“I cherished watching that man throw, regardless that he’s a Crimson Sox participant and I’m a born Yankee fan,” Kirby mentioned of Wakefield, per MLB.com. “However yeah, it was a terrific day to throw it and I’m glad Seager missed it and didn’t take it deep. So, yeah that was enjoyable.”

The knuckleball is among the rarest pitches in baseball as a result of how onerous it’s to regulate, and only some gamers — resembling Wakefield — have ever mastered it. Kirby teased throughout Spring Coaching that he may throw a knuckleball and Mariners supervisor Scott Servais mentioned that he was excellent at throwing it. 

“George is George. He’s gifted. He can do plenty of various things,” Servais mentioned. “He additionally has a particularly devastating knuckleball. And it didn’t shock me that he threw it.”

Servais wasn’t stunned, however not as a result of he knew how good Kirby is at throwing it. This explicit pitch was referred to as by catcher Cal Raleigh, who grew up a Crimson Sox fan, on the day of Wakefield’s dying. It was a pitch designed to honor Wakefield, arguably the very best knuckleballer in baseball historical past.

“With the passing of Tim Wakefield in the present day, who is aware of — baseball is a bizarre sport that manner,” Servais mentioned. “I do consider within the baseball gods, and perhaps that’s why it got here out in the present day.”