It’s been more than a month since the last baseball-related post. I fear it’s because the whole topic has left a bad taste in my mouth since the Red Sox essentially choked away what should have been a fun season right about the time I wrote the last one, which was childish of me. But I can’t ignore this ugly ethics story.
Curt Schilling, the former Orioles/Houston/Phillies/Diamondbacks and Red Sox starting pitcher justly credited as being the hero of Boston’s “Curse of the Bambino”-banishing World Series championship in 2004, revealed on a podcast last week that former Red Sox team mate Tim Wakefield is being treated for “brain cancer” and that Wakefield’s wife is being treated for cancer as well. This led to an outpouring of support for Wakefield, the knuckleball specialist who is as beloved by Red Sox Nation for his community work as much as for his always entertaining pitching as the last of the great knuckleballers. However, the Wakefields hadn’t authorized anyone to reveal their medical issues. The Red Sox felt compelled to issue a statement:
“We are aware of the statements and inquiries about the health of Tim and Stacy Wakefield. Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly without their permission. Their health is a deeply personal matter they intended to keep private as they navigate treatment and work to tackle this disease. Tim and Stacy are appreciative of the support and love that has always been extended to them and respectfully ask for privacy at this time.”
It was, sadly, typical of Schilling to do something like this. A great, Hall of Fame-worthy competitor on the pitching mound during his career, he has always been an undiplomatic, impulsive trouble-maker and bomb-thrower in retirement. Sportswriters generally detest him, in part because Schilling is an outspoken conservative and a vocal member of the Religious Right. This is why he has not been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, despite his excellent career achievements that include Schilling’s legendary “bloody sock” pitching performances to lead the Sox to their 2004 championship.
His unethical treatment of the Wakefields is certainly not going to help his cause. I’ve written here before that Schilling’s misadventures after retirement should have no bearing on his Hall of Fame admission, and I hold to that. There has never been an asshole exception to the Hall’s membership criteria, as the membership of such baseball greats as Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, Steve Carlton, Wade Boggs and others demonstrate.
But, boy, it’s going to be hard for Hall of Fame voters, and Red Sox fans, to get past this.
Ethics Alarms 
It’s not just sportscasters. You inspired me to look up the quote from an anonymous Phillies teammate describing Schilling: “He’s a horse every fifth day and a horse’s ass the other four.”
I’m saddened to hear the news about the Wakefields, who are neighbors and acquaintances of mine, but I won’t violate their privacy by acknowledging the situation should I see them on the street. (I have also run into Buzz Aldrin at the grocery store; Satellite Beach, Fla. is an interesting community.)
Wow, it sure is: you, Buzz and Wakefield together sounds like one of Steve Allen’s “Meeting of the Minds” shows. like the one with Emily Dickinson, Attila the Hun, Charles Darwin and Galileo.
An anecdote: I first met Buzz at a Cape Canaveral charity event when everyone else seemed too timid to go over to him and the other keynote speaker at a pre-dinner reception. So I briefly joined the conversation between Buzz Aldrin and George Takei. (Wouldn’t you?)
George Takai! Another perfect edition to that “Meeting of the Minds” group!
Whether anyone’s health is to be kept private or made public is for them to decide. If the Wakefield’s health is meant to be private then how did Schilling come to know about it? Was it already public and so Schilling was just repeating what he had heard? If so then he was not revealing a private matter. If they told another person about their health then did the other person not realise that they wanted to keep the matter quiet? If on the other hand the Wakefields told him in confidence then the Wakefields made a bad error in telling a big mouth like Schilling a private matter when they should have known Schilling would not be able to keep his mouth shut. If you want to keep a secret then the first thing you do is not tell anyone else.
I’m sure the Red Sox vets grapevine is pretty quick to pick up on such things. Wakefield has been a longtime NESN coomentator—he disappeared suddenly from Red Sox telecasts in August. So an ex-team mate asks another, “What happened with Wake”? and the other says, “I’ll ask around and see what’s up.” That doesn’t make the information public, or give Schilling leave to blurt it out in a podcast.
Was Schill specifically told not to share the information? Frankly, I’m a little mystified by this. Schilling is a target about the size of Donald Trump. And he’s an uncontrollable chatterbox.
He shouldn’t have to be told. One asks permission before publicizing any personal secret or crisis, especially when it involves health issues. No?
Not sure I agree with that.
I thought that was why you labeled him an Ethics Dunce.
As opposed to something worse.
He shot off his mouth without thinking. He was a gossip.
I too wondered how he came across this “secret” information and if he knew or should have known the need to keep it quiet.
At the end of it all, I thought Dunce was appropriate.
He was a loud mouth and a gossip who probably had no malice in his revelations. He just should have thought twice as hard and spoke half as much.
So, on a modified Hanlon’s Razor scale: he is not bad, just dumb.
-Jut
Well, my assessment leaves out Schilling’s history, which is long and damning. He’s definitely not dumb—he’s a smart and informed guy, and by baseball standards, an intellectual. He craves attention, He loves controversy. He’s a narcissist, and doesn’t seem to care about collateral damage. Even with Hanlon’s Razor, I’m not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Sounds like victim blaming to me. Maybe stop assuming things, and trying to turn it around on the Wakefields, as it was THEIR fault for trusting close friends. There’s a difference between telling your close circle of friends, and sharing it with an entire city/state/country, and you know that….at least you should know the difference. If not, I’m sorry for you.
Schilling knew better, but was too obtuse to not share it.
Wakefield is DEAD. I hope Schilling feels like the slimeball he is for announcing this guy was dying a few days before he actually died, with no chance for things to dissipate.
The MLB website is reporting that Tim Wakefield passed away today (Oct. First).
https://www.mlb.com/news/tim-wakefield-dies-at-57
Whoa. That was fast.
Ugh. I loved Wakefield—easily one of my top 5 Sox starting pitchers in my years following the club.
I just got a text from my Dad (also a lifelong Sox fan) letting me know Tim died. I’m a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, but Wakefield might be my favorite Red Sox player. I don’t know the details, but Tim never struck me as “in it for the most money possible”. His contract terms – if I recall, 1yr at $6m that was renewable each year – was one of the most team-friendly deals in baseball. And he was a genuinely good man and humanitarian.
I’m angry that Curt Schilling revealed Wakefield’s condition without permission, and also saddened that there’s really no way for him to walk it back now. Even with good intentions, revealing private matters is unwise. Someone close to us recently revealed a medical situation that was supposed to remain unspoken, and it created unwanted friction.
I’m sorry for the loss Red Sox Nation is feeling today, but for those that believe in an afterlife, Heaven has gained a true hero today.
Rest in Peace, Tim.
You never know for sure, but all indications always were that Wakefield was an unusually steady, smart, compassionate man and a much admired team mate. I don’t think anyone can be a knuckleball pitcher without an even temperament and strong character: the pitch is unpredictable, and the pitcher is even more at the mercy of the fates and random variables than most baseball players. Wakefield’s career was a roller-coaster ride just like the pitch: he was nearly unhittable as a rookie, then lost his control and was laboring in the low minors until the 1994 strike, which gave him an opening. Then he started the ’95 season with the Red Sox with the best run of his career, helping to lead them to the AL East Championship.
I’ve followed the Sox since I was 12, and he is in my top 5 Sox starters of all time, based on character, entertainment values, talent and performance, along with Luis Tiant, Jim Lonborg, Pedro Martinez, and the Spaceman, Bill Lee. I loved Wakefield. I can’t believe he’s gone.
As I mentioned earlier, the Wakefields are neighbors in our mutual Florida retirements; we shared the same ‘local’ as regulars and I’ll note that the place, Coasters Pub & Biergarten, plans a memorial to raise our glasses to Tim later this week. From personal observation I’ll vouch for the steady and compassionate part, and turn to his history for evidence of the “smart”. Tim played his college baseball near here at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). It’s a southern equivalent to the better known MIT and, from your own New England experience, Jack, you likely have some idea of the people who study there. When it was refurbished, the FIT Panthers named one of their baseball practice facilities for him: the batting cages. Tim got a good laugh from that.
Learning the knuckler when other aspects of one’s baseball talents prove inadequate for advancement is another marker of intelligence. More players should do it. Wake joked on NESN about his batting deficits as a firstbaseman, though he was good enough at the plate to be signed by the Pirates.
Clearly Schilling must have known his buddy Wakefield was on death’s door. Give him a break. Jesus H. Christ. What’s the problem about having cancer? Why does that have to be a secret. Wakefield was a God damned public figure. Should Lou Gehrig have kept his condition and prognosis secret? For what? I just don’t get it. If Wakefield wanted it kept a secret, they should have kept it a secret. The guy’s dead too young. Why kick Curt Schilling?
Schilling also revealed that Mrs. Wakefield was dying of cancer, in her case, pancreatic, which is incurable. For all Schilling knew, the couple’s children had not yet been advised of how dire the situation was. Obviously, if the Wakefields hadn’t chosen to go public with this nws, nobody else had a right to do so without their consent and permission.
Here was what Schilling said on the podcast:
“This is not a message that Tim has asked anyone to share, and I don’t even know if he wants it shared, but as a Christian, and as a man of faith, I have seen prayer work, so I am going to talk about it. Tim’s wife Stacy, who is one of the nicest women you’ll ever meet, is very sick with pancreatic cancer. Recently, Tim was diagnosed with a very serious, a very aggressive form of brain cancer.”
Don’t you think that’s damning? “I don’t know if my friend wants anyone to know this, but I’m announcing it anyway because I’m such a good Christian”???
Right, he could have said, I’ve got some very close friends who are very sick (mention Cancer or not), and could use some prayers right now….OR even mention their name, and that they’re having health issues, BUT not go into detail. It was all about CURT getting recognition for pretending to help his friends. Attaboy, pat me on the back Curt.
I’m about to write about this again, because Curt has declined to take hismedicine and attent the 2004 reunion. You’re spot on Curt thinks everything is about him, a perfect narcissist.
If you don’t know why what Curt did is a problem, there’s no way to explain it to you sufficiently for you to understand. It wasn’t his secret to share, especially being health information. I’m guessing your friends don’t tell you secrets either, do they?