The Legacy of Curt Schilling

In the near future, some of the game’s greatest arms will leave baseball, and they will be missed even more than they’ll be remembered.  Today, that time came sooner than expected when Curt Schilling announced that this will be his last season as a major league pitcher.

Fellow greats that defined this era will follow, such as the greatest trio ever assembled in a starting rotation that begins with Maddux, ends with Smoltz, and has some guy named Glavine stuck somewhere in between. Randy Johnson is another who will make a soon departure, and perhaps he most understands better than any of us what type of void is left when a guy with the presence of Curt Schilling is absent. 

Schilling is arguably the game’s most clutch performer of the millennium, and although he has an infamous reputation of often being too outspoken and overly-opinionated, he backs his words up time and time again with his pitching performances on the field.

He is a leader, a performer, and a magician. In a controversial era where baseball might never again have another 300 game winner, he is one of four active pitchers who are within reaching distance of accomplishing such a magnificent feat.

He has three World Series rings, and the fact that he is one of few pitchers since 1969 who has recorded three seasons with at least 300 strikeouts is a rarity. He craves the spotlight, and on such a stage he has left his legacy in a sporting world which some of its most well known performers have been known to downplay the significance of the most important games.

In Boston, he is not just a distant memory from the 2004 World Championship season, but a legend. In a city where Game six has provided such heartache by the likes of Bill Buckner, Schilling has stepped up and delivered. He has played through a ruptured ankle tendon and without question carried his team to victory when his team was on the brink of elimination: twice.

He is a warrior who has stayed true to the fans of Boston by delivering them two much-desired World Series rings and whose performance in Game six of both the 2004 ALCS and World Series, which ranks among the best of his career and one of baseball’s most memorable, will live on in New England baseball lore.

In a city and time when so many fan favorites have departed for Boston’s bitter rival New York- such as The Babe, Clemens, Damon, and Boggs- Schilling has remained loyal, and through each outing, he has continued to uphold his post-season reputation as being a winner and a champion. If he is indeed done as he proclaimed this afternoon, Schilling will join the ranks of Tom Brady, Larry Bird, and Bill Russell in Boston’s pantheon of some of the greatest heroes the city has ever seen.

The fact that Schilling has accumulated just short of 220 career wins is a non-issue. He will be remembered for his outstanding performances in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series with Arizona as well as bringing Boston their first World Series title since 1918 when the only options were win or go home.

While Dimaggio is referred to as The Yankee Clipper, Schilling very well could be appropriately dubbed The Yankee Killer. He was brought in after yet another disappointing finale to Boston’s 2003 season to get the Sox over the hump, and he did so when his team was just short of dead after being down 3-0 to the Bronx Bombers.

His career numbers are not exactly typical of a great pitcher, but Schilling had moments that made him great. Certainly he is one of the best post-season pitchers of all time, with a phenomenal and unprecedented 11-2 record and a solid ERA. He understood and empathized with the Boston fans.

He knew what his role would be from the moment he arrived at Fenway. He embraced the expectations and welcomed the pressures that came with being the savior of a cursed franchise.

Whether it will be his clutch performances or his durability, both qualify him for the game’s highest honor. My lasting memory of Curt Schilling is his Game Seven gem in the 2001 World Series when he silenced Yankee hitters and ended the Yankees Dynasty on a cool desert night at Bank One Ballpark.

Whether or not he will be a Hall of Fame candidate is up for debate and will endure a lot of controversy in the future, but even more memorable than his numerous outstanding post-season pitching performances is this: Curt Schilling had heart.

In my mind, he is a first-ballot candidate for the Hall of Fame.