After rejection, Schilling tells Hall to take name off ballot
Curt Schilling was shut out on Tuesday as he fell 16 votes shy of being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Schilling received 285 votes and was named on 71.1% of the ballots. He needed 75% to earn induction into Cooperstown.
No players earned the honor this year.
It is the first time that has happened since 2013 and the ninth time overall.
Schilling fell 20 votes shy of induction in 2020 when he received 70% of the vote.
Not long after Tuesday’s results were revealed, Schilling posted a lengthy letter that he sent to the Hall of Fame on his Facebook page and requested he not be listed on the ballot next year in his final season of eligibility.
“I will not participate in the final year of voting,” Schilling said. “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.”
There are observers who say the right-handed Schilling has hurt his candidacy with controversial comments over the past few years, often made from his Twitter account, but his credentials sparkle.
Schilling was a six-time All-Star who went 216146 with a 3.46 ERA, 3,116 strikeouts, 83 complete games and 20 shutouts in 20 seasons from 1988-2007 with the Baltimore Orioles (1988-90), Houston Astros (1991), Philadelphia Phillies (1992-2000), Arizona Diamondbacks (2000-03) and Boston Red Sox (200407). He walked just 711 batters in 3,261 innings.
But Schilling has been embroiled in controversy throughout his retirement.
He launched a video game company, 38 Studios, that went bankrupt shortly after receiving a $75 million loan guarantee from Rhode Island, then was fired as an ESPN analyst after he sent tweets comparing Muslim extremists to Nazi-era Germans and posted derogatory Facebook comments about transgender people.
Months later, Schilling was again criticized after using social media to applaud a T-shirt calling for journalists to be lynched.
On Jan. 6, the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, he said the following in a message on his Twitter account:
“You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for air Jordan’s and big screens, sit back .... and watch folks start a confrontation for (expletive) that matters like rights, democracy and the end of govt corruption.”
That tweet was sent a few days after Hall of Fame ballots were due.
“In my heart I am at peace,” he also wrote. “Nothing, zero, none of the claims being made by any of the writers hold merit.”