Curt Schilling continues to see his Hall of Fame vote totals rise, but earlier this week he missed the cut for the seventh straight year.
Although the former star pitcher received 60.9 percent of the vote, it was short of the 75 percent threshold needed to get elected. But considering he’s been as low as 29 percent before in voting, coupled with the fact it’s not uncommon for writers to change their mind as time goes on, it’s not impossible for Schilling to get the call at some point in the next three years.
From a pure numbers standpoint, Schilling deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. But some of the reason he’s fallen out of favor with Hall of Fame voters is because of his far-right political views that he candidly expresses on Twitter, which also ultimately led to his firing from ESPN.
According to Schilling though, he’s hardly fazed by the results. On Friday, he went on WEEI’s “Mutt and Callahan,” and before the conversation turned into Alex Reimer, Gerry Callahan and Schilling sparring over politics, the retired right-hander explained why he doesn’t let the results have an impact on him.
“I have no control over it whatsoever,” Schilling said, as transcribed by WEEI. “The ability to have the vote change year after year, when I don’t win a game or strike out anybody, makes it kind of easy just to distance myself.”
Schilling took things a step further by pointing out the double standard writers have directed at two players from his era, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.
“I don’t want to diminish what the Hall of Fame means,” Schilling said. “(But) remember back when Bonds and Clemens were doing their thing, and these writers were voting for them for MVP and Cy Young? Those same writers are now not voting for them for the Hall of Fame. I’m at a point in life where I can’t allow things (to get to me) and I never have.”
Schilling also articulated his point by referencing a conversation he had with a writer while still with the Philadelphia Phillies who said he didn’t vote for Nolan Ryan the first time he was on the ballot.
“It was one of those things where I looked at him kind of like, what the hell are you talking about?” Schilling said. “And he said, ‘If Don Sutton didn’t get in unanimously, then Nolan doesn’t deserve to, either.’ I said, ‘Hold on a second. You’re passing judgment on a 27-year career of one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived, and you’re doing so because of something that has nothing to do with him?’ So I got into this discussion, debate, and argument, and at that point I realized you know what, this is something that’s completely subjective.”
