Curt Schilling
Curtis Montague Schilling (born November 14, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball right handed pitcher and commentator for media outlet BlazeTV. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series appearance in 1993, and won championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox, being named a co-winner of the World Series MVP in 2001. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2, and his .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least ten decisions.[1] He is a member of the 3,000 strikeout club and has the highest strikeout-to-walk ratio of any of its inactive members. He is tied at third place for the most 300-strikeout seasons.[2]
Curt Schilling
216–146
3.46
3,116
After retiring, he founded Green Monster Games, which was renamed 38 Studios. The company released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in February 2012. Three months later, they laid off their entire staff amid severe financial troubles. As a radio personality, Schilling was signed by the Howie Carr radio network to do a Saturday morning politics and sports show.[3] As a conservative, Schilling joined Breitbart in 2016.
Early life[edit]
Schilling was born in Alaska.[4] He went to high school in Phoenix, Arizona, attending Shadow Mountain High School.[5]
Playing career[edit]
Amateur baseball[edit]
Schilling played for Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, before attending Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona, in 1985.[6]
Orioles and Astros (1988–1992)[edit]
Schilling began his professional career in the Boston Red Sox farm system as a second-round pick in what would be MLB's final January draft. He began his professional career with the Elmira Pioneers, then a Red Sox minor-league affiliate.
After beginning 1988 with an 8–4 record and a 2.97 earned run average in 21 games with the New Britain Red Sox, he was traded along with Brady Anderson to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Boddicker on July 29, two days prior to the trade deadline.[7] Schilling allowed three runs in seven innings as the starter in a 4–3 win over the Red Sox in his MLB debut at Memorial Stadium on September 7, 1988.[8] Orioles manager Frank Robinson said of Schilling's performance, "He showed he doesn't get rattled out there."[9] He was the losing pitcher in each of his remaining three starts of 1988, including a season-ending 9–3 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium on October 2.[10]
Schilling earned both his first save and win in 1990. The save was the result of not allowing a run in the last 2+1⁄3 innings of a 6–2 victory over the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome which was his first Orioles appearance of the year on June 29.[11] The win came two weeks later when he pitched two shutout innings in relief in a 7–5 home triumph over the Kansas City Royals on July 11.[12] Working exclusively out of the bullpen, he finished the season with a 1–2 record and a 2.54 ERA.[13]
In a transaction considered by Orioles fans as the worst in team history according to Thom Loverro,[14] Schilling was dealt along with Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch to the Houston Astros for Glenn Davis on January 10, 1991. He joined an Astros organization that was for sale and lightening its payroll by going with younger, inexpensive players.[13]
Schilling was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Jason Grimsley on April 2, 1992.[15]
Pitching style[edit]
During the prime of his career, Schilling was capable of reaching and sustaining speeds of 94–98 mph on his four-seam fastball. Throughout his career, he was characterized by a determination to go deep into games, routinely pitching past the sixth and seventh innings. He combined his endurance with pinpoint control, especially on his fastball. Schilling's "out" pitch was a split-finger fastball, which he generally located beneath the strike zone (resulting in many swinging strikeouts). He also possessed an above-average changeup, an effective slider, and mixed in an occasional curveball, though he mainly alternated between his fastball and splitter. Though his velocity decreased in later years (to the 89–93 range on his fastball), his control remained excellent, and he is currently fifth in career strikeout to walk ratio.[51]
Post-baseball career[edit]
Broadcast analyst[edit]
Schilling debuted on ESPN as a baseball color analyst on April 4, 2010, on the pre-game show for the 2010 season opener between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He has written for WEEI.com, 38pitches.com, and WordPress.com. In 2014, he was named as an analyst for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, although his subsequent cancer diagnosis prevented him from working the telecasts for most of the season. On September 14, 2014, Schilling returned to the Sunday Night Baseball booth as the Yankees played the Baltimore Orioles.
On August 25, 2015, ESPN.com suspended Schilling's coverage of the ongoing Little League World Series and Sunday Night Baseball after he posted a Twitter meme that compared Muslim Jihadism and German Nazis, "the math is staggering when you get to the true [number]s".[52][53] Schilling deleted and apologized for the controversial tweet the same day.[54] Schilling was also suspended from the next Sunday night game, in which Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter. On September 3, 2015, ESPN announced his suspension would cover all remaining 2015 Sunday Night Baseball games as well as its 2015 MLB playoff coverage.[55]
On April 20, 2016, ESPN announced that they had fired Schilling after he shared an "anti-transgender" Facebook post, saying, "ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated."[56] Schilling's social media post came shortly after passage of the North Carolina transgender restroom law.[57] In September 2017, Schilling accused ESPN of a double standard when reporter Jemele Hill was not fired or suspended following a controversial social media post about Donald Trump. In an on-air phone interview with CNN, Schilling defended Hill's right to speak her mind, then stated, "I wasn't fired for speaking my mind; I was fired for being a conservative."[58]
Political involvement[edit]
Schilling campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2004, while several members of the ownership of the Red Sox campaigned for the Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry. Schilling said he was encouraged to run for Kerry's seat in the U.S. Senate in 2008 as a Republican.[59] Schilling was quoted in The Boston Globe as saying that he intended to pitch in 2008, which would preclude a Senate run.[60]
He was called to Capitol Hill to testify about anabolic steroid use in March 2005, not as a suspected user but rather as a vocal opponent. He has said that Jose Canseco's statistics should be thrown out due to his admitted use of steroids, and has also said that unless he can refute allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens should be stripped of the four Cy Young Awards he has won since 1997.[61]
On January 29, 2007, Schilling announced in an interview that he would support Senator John McCain, who became the Republican nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In the same interview, he criticized then-presidential Democratic candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton for comments criticizing the war in Iraq.[62] Schilling also turned up on the campaign trail several times stumping for McCain.[63]
Schilling was mentioned as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate in the special election in Massachusetts for the seat left vacant by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.[64] He ruled out a run during his September 24, 2009, appearance on sports radio talk show Dennis and Callahan.[65] In 2009, Schilling endorsed Scott Brown for the seat. During the campaign, Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate, called Schilling a Yankee fan.[66] Coakley was ridiculed for the comment; critics said it showed she was out of touch with the Boston community.[67] Schilling joked about the incident: "I've been called a lot of things... But never, and I mean never, could anyone ever make the mistake of calling me a Yankee fan. Well, check that, if you didn't know what the hell is going on in your own state, maybe you could."[68]
In October 2016, Schilling joined Breitbart News, a far-right opinion and news organization.[69] Schilling announced that he would challenge Senator Elizabeth Warren in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts,[70] but ended up dropping out and supported politician and conspiracy theorist Shiva Ayyadurai in the race. Schilling expressed interest in running for president in 2024 had Donald Trump been re-elected in 2020.[71]
In November 2014, Schilling got into a day-long Twitter argument with baseball writer Keith Law over the creation–evolution controversy, where he argued for creationism against Law's defense of evolution, after which ESPN decided to suspend Law's Twitter account.[72] ESPN commented that "Keith's Twitter suspension had absolutely nothing to do with his opinions on the subject", but it remains unclear what other motivation is behind the act, since the conversation between Schilling and Law reportedly "never really turned hostile", with many reading the details feeling that his suspension was "ridiculous".[73] Schilling's account was not suspended, and he continued to tweet.[72] Returning to Twitter after the ban expired, Law's first tweet "Eppur si muove" ("And yet it moves") made clear that Schilling's complaints about his posts contradicting his argument were in fact the reason for the suspension.[74]
Schilling attracted further media scrutiny about tweets in which he showed support for lynching journalists and the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack.[75][76][77]
On September 25, 2023, Schilling attracted controversy when he reposted an anti-Semitic tweet that made references to on "Jews in leading roles" in government and society, the "Jewish Question", and Jews "dominating important sectors of a nation… when they didn't even found said nation."[78]
38 Studios[edit]
In 2006, Schilling created Green Monster Games, which Schilling stated was not named after the Fenway left field wall.[79] In early 2007, the company's name changed to 38 Studios.[80]
In January 2008, Schilling announced that he would be focusing on an MMORPG project after his retirement. Comic book creator Todd McFarlane and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore were working with Schilling on the project.[81] The new game was developed under the code-name Copernicus. A single-player RPG set in the same setting, titled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, was released by 38 Studios in February 2012. Executives from 38 Studios introduced the game at the Comic-Con 2010 convention in San Diego.[82]
In July 2010, the Rhode Island Board of Economic Development approved a $75 million guaranteed loan to 38 Studios. 38 Studios promised to bring 450 jobs to the state by the end of 2012. In May 2012, 38 Studios defaulted on its loan from the state of Rhode Island and failed to meet payroll obligations to its employees. 38 Studios and its subsidiary, Big Huge Games, then laid off their staffs[83] with a mass email.[84] Some of the laid-off employees may have had second mortgages, because the company had not actually sold homes for them as part of a relocation package.[85] Some have accused Schilling of hypocrisy based on the conflict between his professed views on "big government" and the studio's relationship with "big government".[86] On November 1, 2012, Schilling was sued by the state in connection with the loan. Governor Lincoln Chafee said: "My message to Rhode Islanders is this: I know that you work hard for your paychecks, and for your tax dollars to be squandered is unacceptable. The Board's legal action was taken to rectify a grave injustice put upon the people of Rhode Island."[87]
In a July 2012 interview, Schilling discussed the downfall of 38 Studios, citing the Rhode Island governor and his own optimism as the primary reasons for the demise of the company.[88][89] Ultimately, the company filed for bankruptcy; Schilling, other 38 Studios executives, and other parties associated with the company agreed in a court settlement to repay the state of Rhode Island $61 million.[90]