Schilling says goodbye

Curt Schilling during his time with the Boston Red Sox (Brad Mangin photo)

After last pitching in 2007 and missing all of 2008 with a shoulder injury, pitcher Curt Schilling uses his blog 15 years ago today to announce his retirement after 20 seasons in the major leagues.

Schilling’s career includes 216 victories, 3,116 strikeouts, six All-Star selections, three 20-win seasons, three World Series titles and one World Series MVP award.

His post-playing career is not as smooth, not with a highly publicized business bankruptcy, as well as controversial political and racial statements that polarize his candidacy for the Hall of Fame.

Schilling twice comes tantalizingly close to receiving the requisite 75 percent of the vote he needs for election.

Schilling earns 70 percent of the vote in 2020 – his eighth of 10 years on the writers’ ballot. He comes back in 2021 to receive 71.1 percent, falling only 16 votes shy of the 301 he needs that year for election.

Schilling then surprisingly tells the writers to not vote for him in 2022, his 10th and final year of eligibility on their ballot.

Seems, he does not want their support at all, telling them he would rather wait for election through one of the Hall’s myriad veterans and old-timers committees.

“I’ve made mistakes,” Schilling says of the issues that have – and continue to – cloud public perception.

“I’ve misspoke.” Schilling says. “I am sure I will again sometime, but that happens, that’s part of being human in my book. I’m OK with that. I’ve never don’t it maliciously, ever.”

At least one Hall of Famer has no sympathy for Schilling and his exclusion – so far, anyway – from Cooperstown.

“I would say to Curt, ‘Look at what you did. You took yourself out of the Hall of Fame because of what you say and how to express yourself and how you think.’ ” Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson later tells NJ.com. “Freedom of speech is great, but we can’t have a country with white supremacy, Nazis, Black Panthers, racist stuff and anti-Semitics.

“I don’t care if Schilling is conservative or not conservative,” Jackson says. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he’s stepping out on the balcony and yelling out something to defame Jews or Muslims or any other ethnicity or gender. Curt, get away from here with that.”