Curt Schilling: Hall of Famer?

A few days ago, with little fanfare or discussion, Curt Schilling quietly retired. No one even mentioned . It was not reported. At all. With the no reporting on the subject I have seen very little, “Is Curt Schilling a Hall of Famer” articles.* Well, that got me thinking, Is Curt Schilling a Hall of Famer? Well, I put it to my MLJ cohorts and those who replied gave me the following:

clown: No. If he gets in Moose should get in.

Cousins of Ron Mexico: Yes, but only because I don’t give a shit about the rich history of the game. If you’re going to put him in, Jay Peyton and Ollie Perez might as well go too.

Spencer096: Yes. The bloody sock was the tits. Fuck Bert Blyleven.

NickP: Yes. Larkin in 2009.

1 Happy St: Yes. But so is Dave Concepcion because of the Topps card with the Red hat drawn on it and Andre Dawson because his nickname was the Hawk and he was as graceful as a three-legged horse. Fuck Bert Blyleven.

I usually do the name test first to see if this needs to go any further. Yes. But that is not the end all be all, I have been swayed either way after a name test. So here is my other criteria. First, Regular season performance for his career. Second, did he have a dominate portion to his career. For a pitcher it is 5 years. Hitters are 10 years. Third, is there something else he did that would take a very good career and put it over the top. Lots of times after one and two you are still lost you need that little something to throw him over the top. Remember, this is the Hall of Fame not the Hall of Great. If it was the Hall of Great we would have like 20 guys in there. This is to recognize the best and most “famous” (for lack of a better word) of their time and of All-Time. So let us look at Curt using the Roman criteria.

Regular Season for Career

Curt Schilling was a very very good pitcher with flashes of greatness. Looking over his resume it is pretty good. Let me get wins/losses out of the way. 216-146. Now, this site has expressed how wins overall are overrated. They are team stats. But I do look at this. To win 216 games in 16 full and 4 partial season is pretty good. His first 4 years were cups of coffee so in reality his career started 1991 in the Phillie bullpen and 1992 as a Phillie starter. Let’s look at other stats. In 3261 innings he had 3116 strikeouts. He only had 711 walks. That is good production. He had a career ERA of 3.46 and and ERA+ of 127 during the steroid ERA. He pitched in Philly, at the Vet, which was fair stadium. The BOB, Chase Field, etc in Arizona which was a pitcher or hitters park depending on whether the roof was open or not and in Fenway which was a hitter’s park.

Overall, his career is borderline. Thanks to the supremely awesome baseball-reference.com, I found his comparables. Here is the list. Kevin Brown, Bob Welch, Orel Hershiser, Freddie Fitzsimmons, John Smoltz, Milt Pappas, Don Drysldale, Dazzy Vance, Jim Perry and Catfish Hunter. Of those guys only, Drysdale, Vance and Hunter are HOF and Smoltz will most likely be. Now Dazzy Vance pitched for a brutal team in the 1930’s so I really can’t speak on him but Drysdale, Hunter and Smoltz were or are all very very good pitchers with flashes of greatness. They also have something else in common which I will get to later.

Dominant Portion of Career

Schilling had an 8 year portion of his career that was dominant. 1996-2004. Oddly enough his best season may have been 1992. Besides his 14-11 record for a shit team 226 innings he had a 2.35 ERA with a 150ERA+ a .99 WHIP and 147 strikeouts. The next three years after this he was replacement level to above average. This is the first year he threw over 200 innings. It was also the first year he threw over a 100 innings. Just saying. So between 1996 and 2004, Schilling had 3 seasons with over 300 strikeouts and one where he had 293. He three 20 win seasons.  He had 3 seasons with an ERA+ over 150, two more over 140 and three over 130. His lowest ERA+ was 124 in 2000. His best season was 2001 when the D-Backs won the World Series.  22-6 2.98 ERA 157ERA+ 256.7 innings and 293K. In 2004, when the Red Sox won the series, he was 21-6 3.26ERA 150ERA+ 226.7 innings and 203K.

He was second in the Cy Young voting 3 times during these 8 years and top 10 in the MVP twice. To me, he is a Hall of Famer right here. From 1993-1995 he was meh. But he was pitching more than he ever did. In 2005 he was bad but he was coming off the most famous ankle surgery of all-time. In 2006 and 2007 he was very productive but not dominant. But let us say you are not convinced. This is where my third element comes into play.

The Cherry on Top

Now, I am not going to talk about the bloody sock. Much. While the symbol is overblown, the actuality is he was having surgical procedures during the 2004 ALCS and World Series and pitching at a high level. That is pretty cool but it is not the Cherry. It is the stem. The Cherry is his overall Postseason performance. Now, one cannot just be a great postseason player and make it to the Hall of Fame. I am not going to erect a plaque to Mark Lemke or Billy Hatcher. But if you were borderline great and you added that one piece to the portfolio, it makes things easier to process.

Curt Schilling was in the postseason 5 times in his 16 full time seasons. In 19 games he was 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA. In 133.1 innings he had 120K and let up 104hits and 25 walks. He threw 4 complete games. That is the cherry. He is a “big game” pitcher. He did it when it “counted” It is not only what makes him great, it is what makes him famous.

Looking at Smoltz, Hunter and Drysdale they were all very similar. All three had a 5-8 year dominant era. All 3 had storied postseason resumes. In Smoltz case, he also had the Eckersley factor of being a dominant closer. Call it the sprinkles to his Cherry. The other guys, like Hershiser, Brown and Welch did not have the dominant longevity that the Hall of Fame guys did. They had the Cherry but no Sundae. It was more like a scoop of chocolate with some whipped cream and a cherry. (I am getting hungry) Good but not great.

As for clown’s Moose should be in argument. He may have a case, but to be fair, Moose has no Cherry. He is also not as dominant at his best as Schilling. As for Fuck Bert Blyleven, He has a better case than Moose. He has a Cherry. Not as big as Schilling’s but it is there. But at his most dominant, he is not as dominant as Schilling. To be fair, he dominance is longer than Curt’s but he definitely dropped some “clunkers” in there as well. I think Bert has a good case though. Plus, he has that porn beard. So after way too many words, I am going to say Curt Schilling is a Hall of Famer.

*I have seen a ton of them. I am just here to add to the pile since we are a “baseball site”.