Curt Schilling announces that his career is over, or close to it, as he needs surgery on his ailing shoulder. He was the key to one championship and made a big contribution to another. His constant, occasionally self-serving patter wasn’t popular with everyone, but he strikes me as a pretty good guy who’ll do anything to win.
Even if he can come back, Schilling predicts that the rehab will be brutal, and that it probably wouldn’t make sense for him to start pitching before mid-2009. Which means that the Red Sox’ preferred strategy for this year — a strengthening program rather than immediate surgery — was the wise course of action, even though it didn’t work out. If he’d had surgery back in February, he’d have almost certainly missed the entire season.
Photo (cc) by guano, and republished here under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.
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Don, American
Schilling is about as much a Red Sock as the Babe was.
Steve
Well, Don, you’re more right than you know. After all, the last time the Sox won a World Series, Babe Ruth was a Sox starting pitcher!With the way players move around during their careers, players make their own “home towns” and Schilling has settled in here in Boston. He’s also started a business here, and he and his wife have done very significant charity work here. So he’s as much a Red Sox as anyone.I disagree with just about every political opinion he espouses, but he’s smart enough to know he’s no political expert, and he says so regularly.I think his blogging about his own condition and conditions around the Red Sox is counter to some old baseball ways (“what happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse”), but he’s an interesting read all the same.I hope he stays around, even after he hangs up his spikes. Here’s to a speedy recovery for Curt!
Anonymous
I never understood why the Red Sox signed him for 2008. No GM is perfect.
Anonymous
The guy is entertaining, whether it’s on the baseball field, on the radio or on his blog. He’ll be missed, period.
Anonymous
He may say he’s no political expert, but that didn’t stop him from using the platform his athletic prowess gave him to espouse his every political thought to everyone within earshot. I think blowhard was a word used to describe him. It’s appropriate. You hate to see anyone end their career with injury. I think he should get healthy for the rest of his life, and forget this career.
Steve
Anon 4:08 – what makes you think he’s going away? Unless he disappears into the second world he’s creating, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, even if he physically moves away.Anon 5:26 – I agree he’s a blowhard. *He* agrees he’s a blowhard. That’s not a rare trait among performers on all sides of the political spectrum. At least he’s amenable to argument and admits that he might be wrong. You can disagree with him and not be a “monster”. Most other “celebrity” opinion-mongers don’t allow for any challenge to their sacred opinions.I don’t think he could do political radio talk, for instance. He’s too willing to consider viewpoints he hasn’t considered before.He’s also much more accessible. He’s got a blog. It’s got comments, and a community. He’s responsive to comments. We’ll see how that develops when he moves into athletic retirement. My guess is he’s going to go online.Maybe Dan can get the story as it unfolds, but that will probably fall to some sportswriter. I can only hope it will be Charlie Pierce. Dan might do a better job of exploring Curt’s fascination with blogging and gaming and the “online” life in general, though. That’s the interview I want to read.