Wasted Opportunity

Curt Schilling retired from baseball last week. His career spanned 20 years. He played with the Baltimore Orioles from 1988 to 1990; Houston Astros in 1991; Philadelphia Phillies from 1992 to 2000. He was traded on July 25, 2000 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched for the Diamondbacks from 2000 to 2003. In November 2003, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. He played with the Red Sox from 2004 to 2007. Curt Schilling was unable to participate in the 2008 season due to an injury.

It is customary to debate whether a recently retired baseball player is worthy of being inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling was considered a big game pitcher. He participated in 12 postseason series, including three World Series. He won eleven postseason games, and lost only two. His World Series won/loss record in 4-1, with a 2.06 earned run average (ERA).

In his twenty-year career, Curt Schilling won 216 games, lost 146. He made more than 30 starts seven times in his career. His winning percentage was 59.7% and ERA was 3.45. He won more than 20 games three times, and won 15 to 19 games five times. In 12 years, Curt Schilling won less than 14 games in a year.

Curt Schilling struck out 3116 batters, ranking 15th on the all time strikeout list. He struck out over 200 batters five times. In three of those seasons, he struck out over 300 batters.

An average Curt Schilling season would consist of 21 games started, 10 wins and 7 losses, and 155 strikeouts. These are not Hall of Fame numbers.

Tom Glavine’s baseball career closely parallels Curt Schilling’s career. He started pitching for the Atlanta Braves in 1987. Glavine does not throw as hard as Schilling, but in 22 seasons he won 305 games, lost 203, and has a 3.54 ERA.

Tom Glavine won more than 20 games five times. He started more than 30 games 17 times. He won the Cy Young award twice. Schilling never won the award.

Glavine has not been as successful as Schilling in the postseason. Glavine was on one World Series championship team. Schilling was on three championship teams. Glavine’s postseason record is 6 wins, 10 losses, but his World Series record is 4-3.

An 11-2 postseason record is not a sufficient enough achievement to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling’s ability to win big games is admirable. Red Sox fans will never forget Schilling’s performance in game six of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees – forever known in baseball lore as the “bloody sock game.”

But Curt Schilling had the ability to be a dominant regular season pitcher. He could throw as hard as Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. It is ironic that in the steroid era Curt Schilling was not durable.

He earned over $114 million in salary, but if Curt Schilling were honest with himself, he would realize he squandered an opportunity to become one of the great pitchers of his generation.