Jan 26, 2021
Schilling: Take me off HOF ballot
Curt Schilling is asking for his name to be removed from the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for his 10th and final year of Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting eligibility.
TSN.ca Staff
Curt Schilling is asking for his name to be removed from the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for his 10th and final year of Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting eligibility.
"I will not participate in the final year of voting. 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,” he wrote on Facebook Tuesday.
“I’m now somehow in a conversation with two men who cheated, and instead of being accountable they chose to destroy others lives to protect their lie. I will always have one thing they will forever chase. A legacy,” he wrote of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, who will also enter their final year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2022.
Click here to read Schilling's full Facebook post.
Schilling missed being elected to Cooperstown this year by 16 votes. No players were elected to the class of 2021 as Bonds, Clemens and every other player on the ballot came up short of the required 75 per cent threshold.
Over 20 big league seasons, he compiled a record of 216-146, a 3.46 ERA, led the league in wins twice, was elected to six All-Star Teams, won three World Series titles and was named World Series MVP in 2001 after allowing a total of four earned runs in three separate starts. Schilling also owns a career bWAR of 79.5, which is higher than Brooks Robinson, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn and John Smoltz.
But then there’s the other side of Schilling, the side that has pushed voters away in recent years with inflammatory political commentary and accusations of Islamophobia, racism and transphobia. Schilling was first suspended from his job at ESPN for an anti-Muslim tweet and later fired for transphobic comments made on Facebook. He also defended the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Twitter on Jan. 6, however that came after ballots were due from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. According to Forbes, numerous BBWAA members asked to amend their ballots following the tweet.
The Hall of Fame has yet to publicly responded to Schilling's request.