I will always be grateful to Curt Schilling. Along with David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and a few others (Dave Roberts, of course, for that clutch stolen base), he was among the most prominent Red Sox heroes in 2004, when the team I have spent far too much time thinking about and following finally won the World Series after 86 years of sometimes Greek tragedy-level frustration. I will also forever advocate Schilling’s admission to baseball’s Hall of Fame, an honor he more than deserves and has been so far robbed of receiving because of politics and woke biases against him rather than any lack of accomplishments on the field.

Make no mistake about it, however, Curt is an asshole. The last time I wrote about Schilling here it was to excoriate him for one of his worst a-hole outbreaks, when he betrayed his supposed friend and team mate Tim Wakefield by announcing that the former pitcher and his wife were both battling terminal cancers, a family tragedy that the Wakefields had wanted to keep private. That ethics alarms fail by Schilling was so serious that the Red Sox organization felt it necessary to repudiate their 2004 championship hero’s behavior.

On April 9, Opening Day at Fenway Park, an event which I used to attend annually in those golden days when I lived in Boston, the team will honor both the 2004 team’s 20 year anniversary and the Wakefields, who both perished of cancer, Tim’s in his brain, his wife’s in her pancreas. The Boston Globe has reported that Schilling declined his invitation to be a part of the 2004 championship team reunion and ceremony.

The man is incorrigible (Ugh…one of my dear Grace’s favorite words, and I was writing this post in part to get a mental break from dealing with her sudden death!). In an exchange in comment to a social media post, Schilling was asked if he planned to be at Fenway on Opening Day “and get the standing ovation you deserve!” Curt replied, “No I don’t. Not this time.”

He explained, “Let the focus be on 04 and Wakey and (Stacy Wakefield). I’ll forever regret what happened but I cannot in good conscience put my self in a position that would detract from the recognition that team and the Wakefields deserve. FWIW I wrote a letter to all the people whose opinion matters to me, so the people I care about know.”

First of all, like all narcissists, Schilling thinks everything is about him. It isn’t, and that ceremony especially isn’t. Schilling’s presence won’t detract from the event in any way, because he will be there as part of the 2004 team, and what the 2004 team did for Boston and its desperate fans is entirely separate from what any of those players have done separately since that memorable season. I think Schilling is afraid that he’ll be booed. And he may get a few jeers but not many, just as Johnny Damon, who defected to the Yankees as a free agent and was booed lustily in Fenway for the remainder of his career, and Manny Ramirez, who disgraced himself in his exit from the team might get a few scattered boos as well. But they’ll be in Fenway because they have some humility, they have the guts to take their medicine, and they know that their presence is important, to the team, to the fans, and to their team mates.

Curt is drawing attention to himself by not attending, and I have to believe this is also more grandstanding by Schilling over his Hall of Fame snub and relegation to persona non grata status in baseball generally. Here’s The Athletic’s recap of Curt’s ugly journey since retiring in 2007:

He once posted a photo on Twitter showing a T-shirt on which was written this slogan: “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.” ….He posted a cartoon that was offensive to the transgender community. On January 6, 2021, as the United States capitol was being overrun by supporters of President Trump, Schilling tweeted the following: “You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for air Jordan’s and big screens, sit back, stfu, and watch folks start a confrontation for s— that matters like rights, democracy and the end of govt corruption. #itshappening.”

One year later, in his 10th and final appearance on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot that’s sent to eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Schilling received only 231 votes, 65 fewer votes needed for election. In 2021, with ballots having been cast before the Jan. 6 riots, Schilling missed election by just 16 votes.

Schilling eventually asked that he no longer be considered for the Hall by baseball writers, saying that he had no respect for their judgment anyway. The summary above left out Schilling’s firing from ESPN as a baseball broadcast color analyst for making un-woke comments about Muslims and Hillary Clinton, neither of which topic belonged in a baseball broadcast. The recap also left out the scandalous collapse of Schilling’s computer game company after receiving millions in state funds, some claimed fraudulently.

Poor Curt feels abused and unappreciated, and a standing ovation from the Fenway crowd on Opening Day would undermine his claim to victimhood.

Schilling was a great and courageous pitcher. As a human being, however, he’s a journeyman at best.