This article is part of our series on the Top 100 Players in Baseball History. Schilling ranks 91st all-time.
We are a fickle society. On one hand we admire the confluence of confidence and brilliance. We are attracted to it like koalas to eucalyptus leaves. But on the other hand, the public at large can pivot off the confident individual and turn on him. Cocksure: fine. Brash, well ok. But, arrogant: we can hate that quickly.
In a 22-year professional career, 20 of them spent at the top level, Curt Schilling proved time and again that he was the Alpha Male. He demanded the baseball be place din his glove before the big games. He pitched and won most of them. He brushed off injury, insult, and ill-intentions from his enemies, and achieved greatness few pitchers have ever experienced.
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Only a few pitchers have had the commanding presence and unflinching character to be the leader of their team. That’s typically the job of a position player. The number of pitchers to be in that category is small: the indomitable Robert’s, Bob Feller and Bob Gibson; the esteemed Robin Roberts; Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Chris Sale for better and worse. Schilling is in that small circle. Because he never shied away from the responsibility of leadership.
Leaders have wide shoulders, and Curt Schilling had that characteristic instinctively.
Schilling’s résumé is far from one-dimensional. His credentials are not a one-legged stool that rests on “big game pitcher.” Schill ranks 28th all-time in WAR7, which is to say his long peak (best seven seasons) rate among the best to ever toe the rubber. His tope three seasons (WAR3) rank ahead of Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, as well as Jim Palmer. Only 20 pitchers have a higher JAWS (the average of WAR7 and Career WAR). Pitchers that Schilling rates ahead of in JAWS include Nolan Ryan, Roy Halladay, and Juan Marichal.
Want credentials? Schilling has them. He’s either one of the best two dozen or three dozen pitchers in baseball history, depending on your measuring stick.
But then there are the big games. Eight times, Schilling pitched into the eighth inning or later in a postseason game, and his teams won every one of those contests.
Quality starts are nonsense. They always have been. But, people like to keep track of them still. A QS is a start of at least six innings AND three earned runs allowed or fewer. That’s not really quality, but whatever. In his PS career, Schilling had TEN starts of at least seven innings where he allowed one earned run or no earned runs. THAT’s a quality start, on the biggest stage. Only two pitchers have ever had as many: Tom Glavine with 13; and Andy Pettitte, also with 10. But Glavine recorded his 13 such starts in 35 overall PS assignments, while Pettitte made 44 postseason starts. Schilling achieved his 10 Super Quality Starts in only 19 starts.
Other than Bob Gibson and possibly Jack Morris, Schilling pitched and won more important postseason games than any player in baseball history.
Of course, the shoulder isn’t the only body part of note on Schilling. There is also that gaping hole a smidge below his nose. No account of Schilling’s career and post-MLB career will be told without a detailing of his mouth. It’s gotten the ace pitcher into loads of trouble, most of it justified.
As a member of the Phillies, Schilling came under fire for his me-first behavior with the media and front office, specifically his camera-stealing behavior in the 1993 World Series. That’s an odd thing for a “leader” to be accused of, but by credible reports, Schilling was not much admired in the Philadelphia clubhouse, even with his contributions between the lines.
At every stop of his playing career, Schilling has engaged in feuds with the media. On the eve of his start in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series for the Diamondbacks, reporter Pedro Gomez wrote that Schilling was “something of a con man, someone more intent on polishing his personal image through whatever means possible…” In later years in Boston, Schilling had a long-running battle with noted Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.
After his career, Schilling has been insufferably active in almost every issue of our times, from sports to politics to social topics. He was fired from a broadcasting gig by ESPN for posting an alleged anti-transgender social media message. He was roasted by former teammates when he revealed the cancer diagnosis of Tim Wakefield and his wife. Schilling has gleefully jumped into the fray to argue in the muddy waters of social media over LGBTQ, far right and far left politics, the January 6th riots, and much more. For his efforts, the former ace pitcher has become a pariah with all of his former teams. The Red Sox did not uninvite him from the 20th anniversary of their 2004 World Series championship, but they were not disappointed by his absence. There has been calls for Schilling’s name to be removed from the Phillies’ Wall of Fame.
In 2021, when it Schilling failed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the former pitcher publicly called for his name to be removed from future consideration. He had fell 16 votes shy of induction, and by his own admission, was “done” with the process of being considered by the baseball writers whom he had often quarreled with.
“I will not participate in the final year of voting,” Schilling wrote in a letter to the Hall of Fame in 2021. “I am requesting to be removed from the ballot. I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player. I don’t think I’m a Hall of Famer, as I’ve often stated, but if former players think I am then I’ll accept that with honor.”
In 2022, Schilling’s name was once again on the ballot for a tenth and final time. Thanks to his public tantrum, his support dwindled: he fell from 71% to 58%, far below the 75 percent threshold. In 2023, he was on the veterans committee ballot, receiving seven votes, five less than what was needed.
Curt Schilling may not consider himself a Hall of Famer (we think he actually does), but his performance in uniform is worthy of the honor. Will he ever get the phone call with the good news? Would he answer the phone? It doesn’t matter: he’s almost more remembered now for being a controversial figure who can’t seem to keep his mouth shut.
