Curt Schilling is an Asshole Who Can Fuck Off

So, baseball Hall of Fame results will be revealed tomorrow. We all know by now that Derek Jeter is getting in. Whether or not you consider him overrated, or his career getting a boost from playing in New York, it’s gonna happen. For my part, the only thing I ever really remember about Jeter’s play is the home run that shouldn’t have been from the 96 playoffs, but that’s neither here nor there.

Nor is it why this article exists. No, instead we are here to discuss noted fuckwit Curt Schilling, who at the time of this writing, is polling at 79% for the 48.5% of ballots known by the tracker at bbhoftracker.com. That puts him above the 75% threshold for election. It is worth pointing out that, as most articles you’ll read will tell you, the numbers on this tracker inevitably come down for just about every player once the entirety of the ballots are revealed. So at this stage, there’s actually a better chance based on precedent that he will give back several of those percentage points and again wind up on the outside looking in.

For what it’s worth, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens currently poll close to threshold, but the suggestion is that they shouldn’t start getting fitted for jackets or getting ready for a carving to be made of their faces. These three guys are third, fourth, and fifth respectively in the voting right now behind Jeter(100%) and Larry Walker(85%). So, after the top two, the next guys down are an unabashed Biff supporter and two steroid users. That makes me ask, WTF BBWAA?

Time has softened the hate of the steroid users, we know this. Bonds and Clemens in particular were surefire HOFer’s before they ever touched a needle, cream, or clear. And that is probably why they’ve gained more traction lately. But they still cheated, though granted it was not explicitly against the rules at the time. Schilling, while his baseball case is certainly a worthy one, and there’s no evidence he even thought to cheat, is a far worse case across the board.

People who defend Schilling will tell you that hey, like him or not the stats are there. The hall has plenty of assholes in it, what’s one more? And in a certain sense, that’s a thing worth considering. Spitballers, racists, all-around fucking assholes. They’re all in there. It’s not the Hall of Charm, just ask Babe Ruth himself.

However.

Schilling creates more than a typical moral problem for writers. Previously, if say Ted Williams came out as a Nazi by the time of his ballot, I doubt very much he’d be in the Hall. Schilling hasn’t done anything like that, but he has used his platform on numerous occasions to spread hate. In 2015 he spread an anti-Muslim graphic, and the next year, not learning his lesson, lost his ESPN gig after firing out a transphobic post. He’s agreed with the opinions of an avowed white nationalist in Paul Nehlen, and did so strongly enough that even Breitbart(!) pulled the article that Schilling wrote.

Schilling has publicly, on every occasion possible, endorsed Biff Tannen, a man who has nothing but hate and vitriol for the press unless they are praising him. He’s stopped just short of calling for journalists to be murdered in the streets, and Schilling has cheered him on the whole way. He’s cheered a shirt to that effect. And yet here we stand, with journalists on the verge of OK’ing and normalizing his behavior. What happened to the character clause, fellas? Oh wait, let me guess, it’s not convenient to use so you’re not gonna use it. This is a man who has basically spent his entire retirement being an asshole to whomever he wants to, and behaving abhorrently even in private. Remember that gaming company, 38 studios, and the massive fraud it turned out to be? Schilling is hoping you don’t, and the writers don’t seem to be. Or they don’t care because he didn’t cheat on the field.

Even if he falls short, unless conscience makes what would be a surprise appearance, he’s gonna get in before his decade is up. And based on what we’ve seen so far, he will surely deliver a profoundly assholish speech from the dais some summer afternoon. Not quite what I expected when he delivered the legendary bloody sock performance in 04, which should make him a legend in Red Sox land and always welcome. Not so much, which considering Red Sox fans is kind of remarkable.

None of this would be so bad if he were perhaps quieter, as we know by now many white baseball players are conservatives, and not using his platform to bring hatred to marginalized groups, and screwing the state of Rhode Island and numerous employees when not doing that. His woe is me routine is consistent and bullshit. He’s the typical angry, white Republican that roams the country unchecked and pledges their lives to the orange-faced dipshit in the White House. It may not be the Hall of Charm in there, but that the voters could vote to enshrine someone so blatantly hateful is despicable. Even Ty Cobb was never as bad as his reputation presented.

Journalists are not supposed to normalize people like Schilling. Yet as we see, be it the flawed ‘both sides’ argument, the constant worry over access, etc., that is exactly the sort of thing that keeps happening. We apparently should not count on the gatekeepers of one of the most prestigious exhibits in the country to do any better.