Has Curt Schilling done anything in the past few years to cause anyone to like him? Then why is he so chagrined that his Hall Of Fame votes this year are dropping him from the ballot altogether?
If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burnt. On the surface it’s so simple. Because in a way, it’s almost like Curt Schilling took a page out of the Donald Trump book by going out on a campaign designed with the single purpose of offending everyone – by name whenever necessary. Or, was it the other way around because I believe Schilling was out there first. It doesn’t matter though, except to point out that Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States and Curt Schilling doesn’t even have a job anymore.
In theory, writers are supposed to go by the book when filling out their ballots that wind up installing new members into the HoF. And sentence one on page one of the book says that if a player has “the numbers”, you should vote for him. But we know that when humanness enters anything that dictum is likely to get thrown out the window because there’s always going to be someone who decides for himself to not play by the rules. Sometimes, they go to extremes by turning in a blank ballot, for example, as one writer did this year.
It’s Really Only About Curt Schilling
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But that is not what this is about. This is about Curt Schilling and it’s only about him because Curt Schilling has made it about him. Normally, most writers would have looked him up on Baseball Reference , studied his numbers diligently because most take the responsibility they have very seriously, cast their ballot with his name on it – or not and be done with it.
And just to be clear before we move on with the theme of this piece, when you look at those numbers you can make a strong case either way for Curt Schilling being in the HOF. Because clearly, while we’re not talking about Mickey Mantle , we’re also not talking about (example only) Bill Mazeroski either. It’s a close call, but again it’s a call that would be a lot easier to make if it wasn’t for Curt Schilling.
In a compelling story by ESPN’s Senior Writer Jerrry Crasnick, the author wonders if Schilling is “tweeting his way out of the HOF”. Typically, Curt Schilling comes in locked and loaded when Crasnick asks him the question:
"“The Hall of Fame vote, to people like Dan and Wallace Matthews and Jon Heyman, is power to them,” Schilling told ESPN.com. “That’s how it works when you give weak people power. They want to ‘hold it over me’ or something like that? Please. An arbitrary process done by some of the most vindictive and spiteful humans I’ve ever known? One I stopped having control over nine years ago?“I sleep fine. My three World Series rings, trophies and 20-some years of amazing memories are all mine, and always will be.”"
Naming names. Using adjectives and adverbs like “vindictive, arbitrary and spiteful”. I’m not here to engage in any kind of psychoanalysis of Curt Schilling – I wouldn’t know where to begin – but I can easily make the judgement that this is not how you make friends and bring about peace in the world.
This is how you call attention to yourself and insist at the same time that none of it bothers you and you have no trouble sleeping with yourself. Well fine then Curt, we can just as easily dismiss you too. And why should we even have second thoughts about doing that.
Maybe Curt Schilling Doesn’t Care, But Many Of Us Do
It’s because we do care. And for many of us who follow baseball it is important who gets in and who stays out. And we want to get it right with no mistakes, and especially no exclusions where reasons for inclusion here been overlooked, or in the worst cases politicized.
But see, that’s the thing about Curt Schilling that separates him from some others. You don’t see Pete Rose mouthing off to the media every day because he – The Hit King of baseball – is not in the Hall. To be sure, he’s probably not likin’ it, but he’s at least taking his medicine. And he probably sleeps pretty good at night too.
For as long as Curt Schilling insists on putting himself out there in the way that he does, he will never stand on the stage at Cooperstown. Somewhat sad maybe, but also very true.