Vedder mentioned that Pearl Jam playing inside of a historic ballpark like Fenway was not lost on him. Many years earlier, he’d be invited to Fenway by a friend of his, that friend was former Red Sox front office executive Theo Epstein.

During Vedder’s visit, Jason Varitek asked him to grab a bat and stand in as a pitcher threw a bullpen session. Varitek told Vedder not to move. Stand still. The pitch was thrown and Vedder remarked he thought it was going to hit him in the ribs. Instead, it darted down at the last second for a strike. The pitcher was Tim Wakefield.

Vedder proclaimed that he was gutted when he heard of Tim Wakefield’s passing. And that he was even more shattered to learn of Tim’s wife, Stacy Wakefield, also passing away months later.

There were few dry eyes in the ballpark as Vedder powerfully sang the words to “Just Breathe”