by Sean McAdam, Special to FOXSports.com

Tim Wakefield has allowed just 103 hits in 102 innings during a 10-3 start for the Red Sox. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

After briefing the other five Boston Red Sox players selected for the American League All-Star team, Francona summoned pitcher Tim Wakefield to his office Sunday morning. Francona had a properly somber tone to his voice as he began to remind Wakefield how difficult it was to make the team and how tough the competition was.

But within a matter of seconds, Francona couldn't maintain a straight face and dropped the practice joke. After all, Wakefield had waited long enough.

When the Red Sox knuckleballer was chosen for the AL pitching staff in this, his 17th year in the big leagues, he became the oldest All-Star rookie since Satchel Paige. If Wakefield isn't quite as ageless as the Negro League legend — Paige was 46 in 1952; Wakefield will turn 43 next month — he's old enough.

And, predictably, ecstatic.

"You go and play professional baseball and always want to make an All-Star team,'' said Wakefield. "I've had opportunities, just never got a chance. I think I appreciate it more now, knowing how hard it is to be picked. If it had happened a lot sooner, I still would have appreciated it. But not as much as I do now.''

The All-Star selection show was ongoing as the Red Sox took the field Sunday afternoon at Fenway to finish their series with the Seattle Mariners. In the middle of the third inning, Carl Beane, the Red Sox P.A. announcer revealed the Sox players chosen, one-by-one, as the video scoreboard focused on Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon and Josh Beckett.

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Finally, milking the drama, Beane concluded: "And making his first All-Star appearance ... '' The rest was smothered by applause as Fenway rose as one to salute Wakefield, who sat beaming in the home dugout, acknowledging the long standing ovation.

Wakefield (11-3, 4.31 ERA) had spent the previous week pondering his chances and answering questions about his All-Star chances. When it was suggested that his final start before the teams were assembled — a mediocre outing in which he allowed five runs over eight innings — would likely determine his fate, he bristled.

Hadn't he done enough? Hadn't he already reached double figures in wins for the seventh time in the last eight seasons? And didn't he have the ignominious distinction of winning more career games (188 and counting) than any modern-era pitcher without having been chosen for the All-Star game?

Fortunately for Wakefield, American League manager Joe Maddon wasn't about to let one July start make his decision for him. Speaking the day before the team was announced, Maddon listed his criteria for considering Wakefield: "Sentimentality, body of work and, of course, the season he's having. I'm very much aware of his stature in the game and the kind of guy he is.''

Francona, more than most, can speak to the kind of teammate Wakefield has been. He recalls seeing Wakefield putting on his spikes in the dugout in Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, volunteering to pitch in relief as the Sox were absorbing a 19-8 drubbing by the New York Yankees.

For a pitcher who had shuttled back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen earlier in his career, the offer might have been unremarkable. Except for this: Wakefield was scheduled to go in Game 4 the next night and, by making himself available in relief, he was effectively wiping out his own start.

That sort of selflessness has earned Wakefield undying respect in his own clubhouse and unwavering support from the Red Sox fan base, for whom the knuckleballer is the last link to an era when playoff success was a pipe dream.

Not bad for someone who came perilously close to seeing his baseball career cut short 20 years ago in Class A, before someone in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization determined that the struggling first baseman should try his luck as a knuckleball pitcher.

Not bad for someone who nearly helped pitch the Pirates to a World Series berth in 1992, only to be released 18 months later.

Wakefield wasn't picked in 1995, when he was 16-8, with a 2.95 and began the year 14-1. That's because he didn't join the rotation that year until Memorial Day and was just 5-1 at the break.

The All-Star honors follow a stretch of milestones for Wakefield. In addition to two World Series rings, Wakefield recently passed Roger Clemens for most starts in franchise history. With a strong second half this year, Wakefield next year could pass both Clemens and Cy Young for most career wins by a Red Sox pitcher and top the 200-win plateau for his own career.

But those will have to wait. For the next week, Wakefield might be the oldest All-Star, but he is also surely the most enthusiastic.

"I feel very honored and humbled at the same time,'' Wakefield said. "Excited ... nervous. A lot of emotions are going through me right now.''

Finally.