History is often written strictly in terms of black and white. I don’t mean racially in this case (though a strong argument could be made that it’s true here as well). I mean in terms of nuance. There are no gray areas. The good guys all wear the white hats; the bad guys the black hats.
And then there’s the saying, usually attributed to Sir Winston Churchill but more likely uttered by Herman Goering, that “history is written by the winners,” which underscores the truth that history is a matter of perspective. If you’re a Red Sox fan, Curt Schilling heroically pitched Game 6 of the American League Championship Series in 2004 with blood seeping through his sock, making possible all that happened afterward. If you’re from anywhere else in the country, particularly New York, Schilling poured ketchup all over his ankle and let it seep through his sock.
Because we no longer see facts as being impervious to individual narratives, people will go to their graves thinking Schilling either persevered through stinging pain and blood or put on a show to manufacture sympathy.
Either way, why didn’t the Yankees bunt?
It was announced Tuesday night that Schilling did not get the required 75 percent of votes needed to get into the Hall of Fame on this, his penultimate attempt. No one else did either. Schilling, who fell 16 votes short, is on the ballot for one more year.
The problem as I see it is Schilling’s baseball credentials aren’t strong enough, in the minds of some people, to offset conservative political views that are unpopular among the writers who voted. I disagree, strongly, about the baseball creds.
When we mention Schilling, we need the perspective we were talking about before. His personality is like a mess of frayed nerve endings, liable to go off any time on anyone or anything to his left. He hasn’t always been prudent about expressing those views. And he has the extra-added problem of getting $75 million from the state of Rhode Island for his video game company, and then leaving the state on the hook for it when the business failed.
Then there’s the issue of Schilling having an extensive World War II collection that reportedly includes Nazi memorabilia. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s a little too extreme for my blood.
So let’s just say that were there a “Jerk” Hall of Fame, Schilling wouldn’t have to wait 10 years, the way he has for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He’d get in on the first ballot, and unanimously.
And Schilling displayed some of that “jerk” behavior in his “insanely long” statement upon being rejected. The bottom line is that he wants his name removed from the ballot in his final year of eligibility. That’s exactly the type of thing people can’t stand about him.
He’s a complicated guy. But so are a lot of historical figures. For example, Samuel Adams brewed beer and he drank lots of it too. Word has it that the Boston Tea Party was pretty much fueled by alcohol (though not by Sam Adams beer, which was not put on the market until 1984). But because history is written in black and white, we don’t hear about that aspect of Sam’s life or the tea party in school books. He was a patriot, and a founder of the revolution. And the tea party wasn’t looting. It was a heroic act.
It’s kind of the same with Schilling. He was great at what he did, and even greater when it counted most. In 2004, he came to Boston and — I think — helped change the culture of that franchise.
Whether you believe in the bloody sock or not (and I do), his 11-2 record in the postseason, and his penchant for winning big games, both in Arizona and Boston, should qualify him. His politics should have nothing to do with it.
This isn’t Pete Rose, who blatantly defied a longstanding Major League rule on gambling, and then made everyone’s lives miserable as he tried to lie his way out of it. This isn’t Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, who defied a league edict after it was put in place banning the use of steroids — thus compromising their overall statistics. Schilling didn’t commit any capital offenses that would disqualify him.
He’s just a guy with a big mouth, opinions that aren’t popular with some people, and an obnoxious personality. But if you went by those criteria, there would be a lot fewer people in the Hall of Fame.
I hope the people whose pettiness prevented Schilling from achieving this honor have valid baseball reasons they’re willing to share. His politics may offend some people, me included. But there’s that bloody sock, and the magic of 2004. That doesn’t happen without him. I hope he changes his mind and that the 10th time’s a charm next year.