Tim Wakefield was a legendary pitcher in the major leagues.

Over the course of his astonishing 19 year Major League Baseball career, Wakefield pitched over 3,200 innings on the mound. He faced 13,939 batters over his career, racking up 2,156 strikeouts over that time.

He was credited with exactly 200 major league wins, and finished his time with a 4.41 ERA

He was a two time World Series champion, winning with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. He’s a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame, and was the winner of the 2010 Roberto Clemente award.

While most of his career accomplishments took place while Wakefield was with Boston, one of the most incredible stories of his illustrious career was his amazing rookie campaign with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wakefield was a draft pick of the Pirates back in 1988. At the time he was drafted, Wakefield was a first baseman, and began his journey to the big leagues in that position.

While playing Double-A ball, he was told that he would never make it past that level with his work as an infielder, forcing Wakefield to explore other options to make his big league dreams come true.

He spent the summer of 1991 learning to master a knuckler in the hopes of converting his role to a pitcher. For his Double-A team, the Carolina Mudcats, he began his journey as a pitcher, rather than a first baseman.

“I’m probably wasting everybody’s time,” he said at the time. “But I just want to be able to say I tried everything I could to make it.”

And make it, he did. With the Mudcats, his switch to pitcher proved monumental for the club. On the mound, he went 15-8 with a 2.90 ERA, pitching 183 innings that season for the Mudcats.

The Mudcats finished the season with a 66-76 in the 1991 Double-A Southern League, but that was no fault of Wakefield’s. His 15 credited wins would serve as over 22% of Carolina’s total wins on the season.

In addition to his stellar play, Wakefield also pitched 8 complete games, leading all minor league pitchers in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

His conversion paid off almost perfectly, and earned him a promotion to the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons.

Kicking off the 1992 season for Buffalo, Wakefield didn’t skip a beat, posting a 10-3 record with a 3.02 ERA on a much more successful Bisons team. Of his 20 starts on the mound for the Bisons in 1992, he completed 6 of those games.

His excellent performances caught the eyes of the Pirates front office, and in July of 1992, they called him up to the major leagues.

Wakefield made his Major League Baseball debut on July 31st, 1992, at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.

In his debut, Wakefield pitched a complete game for Pittsburgh, allowing just 6 hits and 2 runs, striking out 10 batters in the process as the Pirates held on for a 3-2 victory. Wakefield threw an insane 146 pitches in the win.

Over his next three starts, Wakefield pitched at least 8 innings in each game, tossing another complete game on August 16th at home against the Atlanta Braves in a 4-2 Pirates win.

Ten days later, Wakefield would throw his third and final complete game of 1992, shutting out the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2-0 Pittsburgh win.

That game in particular was huge for Wakefield, coming directly after his worst game of the season just five days prior. In that game, Wakefield allowed 8 hits and 6 runs, as well as walking 4, in a game the Pirates ultimately lost 6-5.

Although Wakefield would not pitch another complete game during the regular season, he came oh so close to lobbing his fourth on September 2nd, going 8.2 innings before he was replaced to get the final out.

Wakefield had held the San Francisco Giants to just 1 run despite allowing 7 hits, but in the ninth inning, the dam had begun to crack. Wakefield allowed back to back hits in the inning, and after the Giants had brought the game to a 3-2 score, the Pirates replaced Wakefield with Bob Patterson, who quickly got the final out and secured the Bucco win.

Wakefield had immediately established himself as one of the team’s best starters down the stretch in 1992, and finished the season throwing 92 total innings for the Pirates.

His 2.15 ERA lead all players on Pittsburgh’s pitching staff, and he by far led the team in winning percentage (.889), finishing 1992 with a 8-1 record.

Wakefield had recorded 3 earned runs against just once during the season, and shut out his opposition 4 times while he on the mound.

With the exception of a September 7th outing, Wakefield pitched at least 5 innings in every start he made, and pitched 7+ innings 9 different times.

His play helped propel the 1992 Pirates into the postseason, with Pittsburgh finishing the season with a 96-66 record, placing them atop the NL East Division, nine games clear of the second place Montreal Expos.

In the playoffs, they met the NL West Division winner Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.

After back to back losses to open the series against Atlanta, including a huge 13-5 loss in Game 2, the Pirates turned to the rookie Wakefield in Game 3 to turn the tides in the series.

And Wakefield delivered.

Just like he did in his major league debut, Wakefield pitched a complete game in his postseason debut, throwing a total of 109 pitches in the game.

Wakefield gave up 5 hits and 2 runs as the Pirates narrowly won 3-2 in Game 3. Both of the runs charged to Wakefield were solo home runs, but he was able to hold Atlanta off the scoresheet in every other manner.

After Game 3, the Pirates had stumbled again in Game 4 and fell 3-1 in the series to Atlanta. Bob Walk was able to guide the Pirates to a Game 5 win, and Pittsburgh once again turned to Wakefield, this time in a must-win effort.

Once again, Wakefield delivered.

Although not nearly as crisp as his first playoff game, Wakefield gave up 9 hits but limited the Braves to only 4 runs as he pitched another complete game for the Pirates.

In the end, he could have opened the floodgates in that game and Pittsburgh would have had him covered; the Bucs’ bats exploded for 13 runs in the elimination game, showing they weren’t going down without a strong fight.

Wakefield threw 141 pitches in that game as the Pirates booked themselves a ticket back to Atlanta for Game 7.

Unfortunately, the Pirates would come up just short, losing the deciding game by a final score of 3-2. Pittsburgh held a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning of that game, but gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth, surrendering the game and with it, the series.

For Wakefield, however, the year was a massive success. For his efforts, Wakefield was in serious contention for the National League’s Rookie of the Year Award.

In the end, he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, placing behind Montreal’s Moises Alou and Los Angeles’ Eric Karros, who ultimately won.

His legendary rookie season is easy to miss, given what he did later on in his career and his longevity in the major leagues.

Wakefield struggled mightily to build upon his debut season in the following years in the Pirates organization, eventually being released in April of 1995.

But despite those early setbacks, he recovered and took full advantage of the opportunity the Red Sox organization gave him.

(Featured photo by Rusty Kennedy/AP)