Curt Schilling loses support in Baseball Hall of Fame voting

[Norbert]

Curt Schilling came just 16 votes shy of making the Baseball Hall of Fame in voting last year, his second-to-last year appearing on the ballot.

It appears that he is going to be further away from the 75% threshold in 2022, his 10th and final year of eligibility in voting.

Schilling's name appears on 58.4% of public ballots with 38% of ballots known, according to bbhoftracker.com.

Players must appear on 75% of ballots to make the Hall of Fame.

David Ortiz (83.9%), Barry Bonds (79.9% and Roger Clemens (78.5%) currently are above that threshold. Scott Rolen (71.1%) is ahead of Schilling, but not currently above the number necessary to make it.

Schilling appeared on 71.1% of ballots in 2021 and 70% in 2020. In 2019, his name was on 60.9% of ballots and in 2018 it appeared on 51.2% of ballots.

...

Schilling’s on-field accomplishments face little dispute, but he has ostracized himself in retirement by directing hateful remarks toward Muslims, transgender people, journalists and others. ...

He was always a jerk. In retirement he became infinitely more of a jerk.


https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/2022/01/11/curt-schilling-loses-support-baseball-hall-fame-voting/9169797002/

[CentralMass]

1. If he wasn't such a douche nozzle off the field he probably would have made it in.

[dem4decades]

2. He can still go into the Asshole Hall of Fame, probably on the first ballot.

[madville]

3. Can't believe they are going to let Bonds and Clemens in

Both steroid users and liars, Clemens lied in Congressional hearings and Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury.

[rurallib]

7. Thanks - I thought they were steroid users

I knew Bonds was for sure.
Hard to keep one of the all time stats leaders out - but, hey, they did it to Pete Rose.

I agree - Bonds and Clemens don't belong.

[Poiuyt]

10. But he got those stats by cheating

Personally, I think they should give the HR record back to Hank Aaron.

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. If I recall Bonds also had exceelent stats in his early career BEFORE he started using steroids

He easily would have been a Hall of Famer based on his natural talent but he couldn't settle for that, he wanted to be the undisputed greatest. I seem to remember hearing he got jealous when players with less talent than he started getting more attention due to their sudden steroid boosts.

[rurallib]

14. well, if someone gives you a magic bullet with no consequences

would you turn it down?

I certainly do not think Bonds should be in the HOF - he cheated. But there was no penalty for cheating.
Sosa, McGwire et alia should not be in the HOF. Steroids was probably the big reason I quit watching baseball. That and endless games with lots of commercials.

Many years ago during the steroid era I realized that there has always been cheating in baseball. For some it worked, for some it didn't.

Whitey Ford, Gaylord Perry are a couple that come to mind. Sign stealing has always been a fixture.

[Polybius]

17. There are steroids users in there now

How is it fair that Pudge Rodriguez is in and Bonds isn't? He was 1,000 times better.

[Poiuyt]

22. Yes, he probably would have made it on his natural talent

I hadn't heard of jealous towards others, but it could be true. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were the ones battling each other for the HR crown, and it was pretty obvious they were juicing.Bud Selig was commissioner at the time, but he didn't have the guts to do anything about the steroid scandal.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

4. Haven't respected him since he was in Phoenix

He led us to the World Series, but he also made it a point to only do local press with a sports radio show that would kiss his ass, and used his appearances to trash the local sports journalists who wouldn't kiss it.
That was well before his politics and bigotry were well known.

[brush]

9. Didn't he have some questionable financial dealings also...lost a lot money...

went bankrupt and all?

[Act_of_Reparation]

30. He took a shitload of money from Rhode Island to start a video game company...

...and promptly ran it into the fucking ground.

[Totally Tunsie]

32. $75M in taxpayer $$$ to be exact.

He blew that along with $50M of his own money.

Ultimately, after many years and many lawsuits, RI has managed to re-coup about $61M in restitution. I won't try to guess the legal costs to obtain this result, however.

https://www.sportscasting.com/curt-schilling-lost-his-entire-115-million-career-earnings-on-a-video-game/

Schilling founded 38 Studios in 2006, three years before his official retirement from baseball. After calling it quits in 2009, Schilling began to sink his life — and his wallet — into 38 Studios. He originally put up $50 million of his own assets to start the company. Other investors chipped in a total of $5 to $10 million, but the bulk of the funding came from a $75 million guaranteed loan from the state of Rhode Island.

38 Studios released its first video game, titled “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” in 2012. The game actually received stellar reviews upon release, but it ended up being the only game 38 Studios would ever release. A few months later, Schilling’s company went bankrupt.

https://apnews.com/article/1c506a25afd6426e85c9d831c28b78d9

38 Studios moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 2010 in exchange for a $75 million loan guarantee, and then went bankrupt.

Last September, Schilling and others agreed to a $2.5 million settlement to end their part of a lawsuit. Neither he nor the other company officials admitted liability in the settlement, which 38 Studios’ insurance company would pay.

Schilling has said his company failed because it didn’t raise enough money, not because he did anything malicious or illegal. He also has faulted Rhode Island politicians for giving him a loan guarantee in the first place.

No good deed goes unpunished. Shilling proved to the State of RI that he had more balls than those he was pitching on the field.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. He Used Steroids

His velocity on every pitch went UP after he turned 32, and his spin rate increased on every pitch.
The famous bloody sock incident is consistent with minor wounds being slow to heal; a side effect of steroids.
He's not just a liar & a jerk. He's a cheater

[Polybius]

18. Do you think Mariano Rivera and Tony Gwynn used steroids?

Both were better after age 32.

[Norbert]

19. Don't know about Riviera but I doubt Gwynn did.

He flatly denied it for one thing. I think he was a man of his word.

Another thing is he was more of a contact hitter than Barry Bonds. I don't think putting the ball in play would get a boost from steroids as being a power hitter.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Did I Say "Better"?

No, I didn't. So your retort makes no sense.
Pitchers don't pick up velocity after they're 32. They don't pick up both velocity AND spin rate in their 30s. Even Nolan Ryan didn't. He was high 90s in his late 30s, but he was over a hundred when he was 25. Same with Randy Johnson.
A pitcher could get more crafty, more precise as they age. Many have.
But, I didn't say "better". I said faster & with more break.
And, the whispers about him juicing were out there while he was active. This isn't just my speculation. Sure, it's still conjecture, but not merely my imagination.
Now, did Rivera throw harder when he was 35, or did he master changing speeds, location, and his knowledge of hitters? We both know the answer.
Did Gwynn start becoming a 30 HR a year hitter. No.
Nice try, but no cigar. Especially since you attributed claims to me that I never made.

[Polybius]

24. Did I say that you said better?

You're the one putting words in my mouth. I was simply asking about those two since we're on the subject and you threw out one name.

[gibraltar72]

6. The POS hall of fame beckons.

[LenaBaby61]

8. Damn, Schilling looks horrible 😳 I'm 60, and he looks WAY older than me.

[aggiesal]

11. Unfortunately, he might get in through the Golden Era Committee (formally Veterans Committee) ...

This voting is through the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).
After 10 years, the writers have only 4 members along with 12 former HoF ballplayers, coaches & executives.
https://baseballhall.org/hof/golden-era-committee-announces-results

It's usually harder to get in through the Golden Era Committee, so it might be "Too Bad, So Sad", for Curt Shilling.

Here is the list of members of the Hall Of Fame Golden Era Committee:
Hall of Fame members
- Jim Bunning
- Rod Carew
- Pat Gillick
- Ferguson Jenkins
- Al Kaline
- Joe Morgan
- Ozzie Smith
- Don Sutton

MLB Executives
- Dave Dombrowski
- Jim Frey
- David Glass
- Roland Hemond

Veteran Media
- Steve Hirdt
- Dick Kaegel
- Phil Pepe
- Tracy Ringolsby

[rsdsharp]

13. Bunning, Carew, Kaline, Sutton and Morgan

are all dead.

[rurallib]

15. I think Carew is still alive

He did have a heart transplant though.

[rsdsharp]

16. You're right. Thanks for the correction.

[rurallib]

20. He was my favorite and I have a story

We went to watch a twins game on a July 4th in the late 70s.

The crowd was terrible. Maybe 3000 on a July 4th! We had box seats behind the first base dugout. We got there super early to watch batting practice and take in all the ambiance we could.

Carew took his BP looked around at the stands- there were maybe a couple hundred wandering around in the stands at that time. He saw us sitting over by the dugout, came over and climbed over the dugout and came up and sat with us for about 15 minutes.

I was awestruck and couldn't speak, so my wife chatted with him. Just a great down to earth man. I finally did get my voice and chatted with him. He loved the Twin Cities and the people up there.

[rsdsharp]

21. That's a great memory. I grew up in NE Iowa in the 60s.

In those days, the Twins had what they called the Twins Winter Caravan. Twins players, and a PR guy, would travel the upper midwest, speaking at banquets, showing a highlight film, and schmoozing with the fans.

I got to meet Carew, Frank Quilici (Carew’s predecessor at second base), my childhood idol Earl Battey, and Zoilo Versailles, after his MVP year. That afternoon, I had gotten a haircut, and was shocked to see the reigning American League MVP in the chair next to me. The barbers were oblivious, possibly because they were so bemused to find a hispanic in our small town.

Zorro was a little oblivious too. That evening, when I asked him if he had gotten a haircut that afternoon, to prove to my friends that I wasn’t spinning tales, his response was, “Yes. How did you know?”

[aggiesal]

27. OK, so here is a story of my brush with baseball players as a kid ...

During my middle school years, the White Sox would give out a form to students with straight A's or perfect attendance, for 2 free general admission tickets to 1 game from a list provided.

We had enough forms for my dad to get enough tickets for the whole family to 1 Sunday game.

We got tickets to the Baltimore Orioles game.

One of the benefits we had was that we could exchange our free ticket for any seat in the house for half price. Box seats were only $5 back then, so while my family got in line to enter Comisky, I got in the ticket line to buy a half price box seat. My dad said I was crazy, but I got a single box seat ticket 4 rows behind the on deck circle.

When I got to my seat, White Sox were having batting practice and 3B Eric Soderholm was signing autographs for about a dozen kids right in front of me. I didn't have anything for him to sign, but I always keep a scorecard. When Eric Soderholm finished and tried to excuse himself, I stood up and asked if he could put his name in my scorecard in his batting position. He stopped turned and asked "What?" So, I asked again if he could autograph my scorecard in his batting position.

He asked for the scorecard and disappeared with it for about 5 minutes.
When he returned, he had the starting lineup filled with signatures from the starting 9.

I'll never forget that.
He wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he made a fan out of me.

[rsdsharp]

29. Wonderful story. I remember when he came up with the Twins.

He became the everyday third baseman when Harmon Killebrew went to the Royals.

[brush]

34. Was this after Tony Oliva was a twin? He's another great player....

from the Twins who gets forgotten.

[aggiesal]

25. You'd think that a major organization like MLB, would have

the HoF keep their website up to date.

I got the info from the link I provided.

Sorry.

[rsdsharp]

28. That is odd. That story is from 2014.

[Veritas et Ratio]

26. Track Voting

The current results will not match the final results. The alleged steroid users always lose votes on the ballots that don't get released to the public. If you're interested, you can follow Ryan Thibodaux (there's a link on his Twitter page to a spreadsheet where he tracks it). Most likely, no one get elected to the Hall of Fame this year.

[jcgoldie]

33. why not Ortiz?