Posted at: 06/24/2009 7:13 PM
By: Mike Levin

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Timlin Back on the Baseball Field

It was a career that has spanned nearly two decades, and four World Series Championships.  Just a year after Mike Timlin debuted with the Toronto Blue Jays, he pitched for a champion.  It would be the first of two straight titles for the native of Midland, Texas. 

But he had trouble matching those special years in Toronto, and in 1997, found himself on Seattle.  Six years later, Timlin traveled to Baltimore, St. Louis and Philadelphia, before finding a more permanent home with the Boston Red Sox in 2003.

He pitched out of the bullpen for the Sox the year they blew that fateful 5-0 lead to the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS.  And then one year later, was a pivotal part of the team that won Boston's first World Series title in 86 years.  It was Timlin's third title, but not the last.  In 2007, he again helped in the pen for the second Red Sox title in four years.  In fact, Timlin appeared in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the World Series, pitching one inning of scoreless relief. The appearance came 15 years to the day that Timlin closed out the final game of the 1992 World Series.

One year later, Timlin was less effective, but still a featured member of the staff.  On September 15, 2008, while playing Tampa Bay, Timlin set the record for most appearances by a right-handed relief pitcher with 1,050 games. He passed Kent Tekulve for first on the all-time list.  But after Boston fell to the Rays in Game 7 of the ALCS, Timlin's active career would come to an end. 

While he was hoping it would just be break and that he still feels he's capable of getting outs, Timlin says he's enjoying life, if this is indeed retirement.  He says that he's enjoying having more time with his family, and just being a dad.  But he also got a curtain call this week in Cooperstown, playing in the first ever Hall of Fame Classic, alongside legends of the game, such as Bob Feller, Fergie Jenkins, Phil Niekro, Paul Molitor and Brooks Robinson.

While he's not assuming to get into the Hall of Fame himself one day, he says that his name will always be a part of baseball history, thanks to the two titles he won with the Red Sox.

Mike Levin can be reached by email at: mlevin@wnyt.com

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