There were no speeches. It wasn’t a drawn-out affair. No pomp or circumstance to be found.

That’s why it was absolutely perfect.

Paying tribute to the late, great Tim Wakefield would’ve been an enormous undertaking any day of the year, but for a variety of reasons, Tuesday was on another level. Months before the knuckleballer – who wore No. 49 for his entire career – passed away last Oct. 1, the home opener had been announced for 4/9. On top of that, this year is the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Red Sox and their triumphant end to an 86-year championship drought, to which Wakefield had been instrumental.

How then, did the Red Sox manage to adequately honor the man who’d been the heart and soul of the organization for nearly three decades? By focusing on what was most important to him: his family and teammates.

Following the usual Opening Day team introductions on the third and first baselines, the Red Sox held their customary moment of silence for members of the organization who’d passed away since the previous season ended. But as some of his teammates hoped would happen when the montage ended with Wakefield, the crowd erupted in applause; they thought he would’ve preferred the loving, joyful noise of the fans.

After the National Anthem had been sung, the 2004 banner unfurled over the American flag on the Green Monster. As Don McClean’s “American Pie” came through the sound system, a reel of ‘04 highlights began to play on the video board.

The clip of Jason Varitek feeding Alex Rodriguez his catcher’s mitt in July ‘04 drew the loudest applause (hating on the Yankees is eternal), until the end. As the song wound down, the final scenes were all Lucchino and the Wakefields: the knuckleballer and legendary Sox infielder Johnny Pesky holding the World Series trophy surrounded by the team on the night the curse was reversed, free from the shackles of 1946 and 2003; footage of Lucchino embracing the Wakefields when the pitcher received his Roberto Clemente Award and their work with the Jimmy Fund; Wakefield as a young Pirates minor leaguer and in his lone All-Star Game in 2009; his teammates spraying him with champagne; he and Stacy holding the World Series trophy, the couple with their two children, Brianna and Trevor.

The Fenway Faithful responded with a long, loud standing ovation.

If there was a dry eye left in the sold-out house at that point, what followed likely eliminated them harder than the Red Sox taking out the Yankees in the ‘04 ALCS. Holding hands, the Wakefield siblings emerged from under the championship banner and led their father’s ‘04 teammates to the mound.

Then, in front of the rubber Wakefield had toed so many times, his daughter tossed a knuckleball to Varitek.

“I don’t think Brianna would’ve given anybody else a choice,” the catcher said with a smile. “She made sure last night, she goes, ‘You are catching!”

“It was emotional, it was really emotional, and she held herself like a champ, and I’m proud of the young lady that she is,” Varitek added. “It was just a beautiful day. I can’t really put it into words.”

The longtime Sox captain-turned-coach has known the Wakefield children all their lives, but since both parents passed away in the last year, the dynamic has changed.  and his wife, Catherine, have taken on something akin to a surrogate parenting role for the two teenagers. “They’ve always been my friends’ children,” he explained, “hopefully the relationship grows more, they just know we’re there for them.”

After hugs from ‘Tek’ and the rest of their father’s teammates, the siblings lifted the trophy together and carried it off the field.

“I just thought it was fitting for (them) to walk off the field with the World Series trophy,” said Johnny Damon, who’d carried it out to the diamond. “We’re all family and these kids are going to count on us moving forward, and we all are gonna be there for them.”

For anyone who remembers the ‘04 ALCS celebrations, it was a moment of bittersweet deja vu. When the Sox completed their historic comeback at Yankee Stadium, Damon had been handed the American League trophy, but immediately declared that it had to go to Wakefield, the pitcher who’d given up the infamous walk-off home run that sent their most hated rivals to the World Series the year before.

“Obviously, it meant a lot to everybody, but to Tim, to go through the trials and tribulations in ‘03, Aaron (expletive) Boone, Wake deserved to have that trophy,” the teary-eyed Damon explained. “He was Mr. Red Sox.”