Number Seventeen: Tim Wakefield.

Wake has been with this team for so long that he played with Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn, Matt Stairs and a center field-playing Ron Mahay. He's played on some pretty bad teams but has managed to rack up 175 wins. He's seen the good times and he's been front-and-center for the bad times but he keeps coming back. Even Mrs. Wake understands; in 2007, she had to tell some of the other wives/girlfriends not to put on their "World Series Champions" t-shirts before the team won, lest they jinx it.

Released by the Pirates in April of 1995, Wakefield latched onto the Sox a few days later. Called up in May he went on a 14-1 winning streak through seventeen games. His ERA in mid-August was 1.67, he gave up seven runs in three innings in his next start and it only rose to 2.08. He finished third in Cy Young balloting that year. He's done it all; he's started, he's closed, he's thrown middle relief. And he doesn't complain, at least not publicly.

He does what needs to be done and is willing to take one for the team, if need be. Last season he did just that in Oakland on April 15. April 14 was a disaster of a game. Daisuke Matsuzaka threw one inning (in a game that would eventually go 12 innings and end after 2:30 in the morning) and gave up five runs. Justin Masterson was able to give them four innings. They got one and two-thirds of an inning from Manny Delcarmen and one and one-third of an inning from Ramon Ramirez. Hideki Okajima contributed two innings, Papelbon one inning, and Javier Lopez two-thirds of an inning (and it really looked as if he had gotten the third out). The bullpen was shot. Knowing what he had to do, Wake went out the next day and threw a complete game. He was perfect through five and lost the no-hitter with one out in the eighth.

He hangs out at Dana Farber and Franciscan Hospital for Children. He raises money for special needs kids in Florida. He care about the community, his community. He's a class individual. And as I've said before, we should all aspire to be Tim Wakefield when we grow up.