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Schilling of Red Sox retires with ‘zero regrets’
31 minutes ago

BOSTON (AP)—Curt Schilling retired from baseball Monday after a career in which he won World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks and was one of the game’s most dominant pitchers and grittiest competitors.

The 42-year-old right-hander said on his blog he’s leaving after 23 years with “zero regrets.” Schilling missed all of last season with a shoulder injury after signing a one-year, $8 million contract.

“The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime,” he wrote.

Schilling had surgery last June and had said he might come back in the middle of this season. He was not under contract for this season. He made no reference to his injury on his blog.

Schilling won a World Series with Arizona in 2001 and with Boston in 2004 and 2007.

In his first year in Boston in 2004, he helped the team win its first World Series in 86 years, pitching Game 2 of a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals after a surgical procedure to suture a loose tendon in his right ankle and with blood seeping through his sock. The sock is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He was drafted by the Red Sox in the second round of the 1986 draft, but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles before playing for the big league club. He pitched for the Orioles, Houston, Philadelphia and Arizona before being wooed to the Red Sox by general manager Theo Epstein.

Schilling, one of the sport’s hard throwers, finishes his career with 3,116 strikeouts, 14th most in baseball history, a 216-146 record and a 3.46 ERA.

He was even better in the postseason, with an 11-2 record, the best of any pitcher with at least 10 decisions, and 2.23 ERA in 19 career starts.

On the Web: http:www.38pitches.com

Godspeed, Mr. Paint-by-Number sock.

You steaming pile of dung.

Don't hate Mike!   ;D

I love you, Schill!

(http://sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/images/thumb/2/2f/Schill.jpg/250px-Schill.jpg)

(http://www.cnnsi.com/si_online/images/cover/2004/t1cover_0913.jpg)

(http://www.redsoxtimes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/bdd_cs_ar_04_reu.jpg)

(http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06xw2i01fv2IK/610x.jpg)

I'll miss ya, Curt!  THANK YOU for everything!

(http://lesterslegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/curt-schilling.jpg)

I have no love for the BoSox, but I really like him.  May he continue to be an outspoken voice of baseball reason. 

A very sad day indeed.

You certainly don't love him more than you love Joshie..... :-*

Excellent pitcher. Him, Smoltz and Mariano were so dominant during the postseason, they seem out of a videogame. I feel fortunate that I grew up in an ERA where those 3 guys played ball. Then I remember I am a Yankee fan. The feeling goes away.

Schilling is a douche!

Let the Hall of Fame debate begin.

Curt himself said during ESPN weekend at Disney a couple weeks ago that he is not a HOF'er. The question was asked of him and I thought his head was going to fly off his shoulders, he was shaking it no so quickly.

I don't think there is any debate, The guy is a HOF in my book.

Agreed.

216 regular season wins is shy of that magically 300 number, yes.  But when you talk about "big game" stats, Schilling is almost without equal.

Post season:

11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 133.1 innings pitched.  He has the highest winning percentage (.846) in post season history, is #3 in lowest ERA, 5th in post season wins, 8th in post season strike outs, 8th in post season innings pitched.

The guy is 2nd in post season history in divisional games, ERA wise.  He is 14th of all time in World Series wins with four.  He's 3-1 in World Series games with a 2.06 ERA.  He is 4-0 in AL/NL CS with a 3.47 ERA.  This guy was simply nails when it counted.

Played in four World Series, won three of those.

Six time all-star, 1993 NLCS MVP, 2001 WS MVP (co), top five in voting five times for the Cy Young, 1995 Lou Gehrig winner, 2001 NL Babe Ruth winner, 2001 Roberto Clemente award winner, NL TSN Pitcher of the Year in 01 and 02.  Top five lowest ERA for nine seasons of his 23.  Top 10 innings pitched eight years. 

This is a number that boggles my mind.  #1 strike out to walk ratio:
2001
2002
2003
2004
2006

He was top five six ADDITIONAL years.

Only 13 pitchers in the games history have more strike outs than Schill.

I say Schilling is a HOF'er without question.

i say he's borderline HoF .. he'll probably get in, but not first ballot

No way first ballot.  No chance.  It'll take a while.

The thing with the HoF is they have a "black and white" criteria, with no shades of grey. Yes, Schilling never won a Cy Young, but that's because of Randy Johnson. Randy won 4 in a row during Schilling's peak. Curt finished 2nd twice during that streak and 2nd again in 2004.

I am voting for Mussina for the Hall and he has no Cy Youngs and missed the 300 wins mark. Wins aren't everything and a lot of the times they have more to do with your team's offense than your talent. In 2003 Curt went 8-9 for Arizona in 24 games. Not a good record by any means. His ERA? 2.95. I can't blame Curt for his record.

He wouldn't be first ballot for me and if personality counted he would be banished like Pete Rose....but so would 97% of the guys already in there. So, he gets my vote. He was a big game pitcher.

If ever.

(http://a.espncdn.com/media/mlb/2004/1108/photo/ankle_i.jpg)

Here is Curts ankle before the big game.  That was not fake blood.

I like Curt as a player but off the field I think he is a douche.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=1919387

I know he had surgery, but blood isn't that bright. In addition to that, he had layers of gauze or padding PLUS a sock, and he was bleeding BEFORE warmups. I don't buy it. Doesn't take away from his performance, but I always thought it was either fake blood, or real blood put onto the sock.

If it was a guy like Beckett or Pedroia, I would believe them, but Curt has a history of theatrics.

Um, having had ankle surgery, yes, when it's fresh blood (coming though the sutures) it can easily go through a layer of gauze and soak a sock. Heck, I've had small cuts from shaving do that for goodness sakes.

Gotta say that I'm slightly jealous of the placement of his scar, if mine was there, I wouldn't have such a hard time finding sneakers

Okay, this needs to be broken down.  As the Focker on the board (as Tony likes to call me) this one is up my alley a little bit.  Along with my share of knee work (personally) and my rotations in the ER, surgery, ICU and PACU I have seen my share of blood.

"Blood isn't that bright."

First of all - it wasn't "bright."  Second of all, it was real blood and it was his.

Please note the color of the blood below.  This is the sock.  Please also note the location of the blood.  This will be important later.

(http://z.about.com/d/gonewengland/1/5/G/R/baseballhall8.jpg)

Now please see the blood on this cloth that was used to clean a knife wound.  Please note the difference in texture of blood that comes through a layer (the sock) and the texture of blood that is applied directly to surface wounds (the rag below).  Please notice the rag below the blood is BRIGHTER.  There goes that little stance.

(http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/1212/bloodstain-main_Thumb.jpg)

Please note the similarity in the secondary blood spots.

Back to the spot of the blood.  Please see this different angle:

(http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/schilling_sock1_0426.jpg)

Now please note the incision areas:

(http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:c-D-yNpB0n2EFM:http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/CS_ank_bdd_11.7.04.JPG)

The spots of blood match the incision areas perfectly.  Coinicidence?

"He was bleeding before warm ups."

Yes, and he also changed dressing and socks prior to the game.  Your point is what?  The procedure he had done he shouldn't have been on his feet much less pitching.  He bled through two socks.

"In addition to that, he had layers of gauze or padding PLUS a sock."

No, he didn't.  He had a single gauze pad that was treated with a thin layer of polysporin to help fight possible infection.  And a thin sock.  It's vital for
incision areas like this to be able to breath while providing proper protection to the area.  He wasn't wrapped up like a mummy, the guy had two thin layers.

I would challenge you to take a small razor and make a small paper cut like incision on your finger.  See how long it takes for that to stop bleeding and how many small gauze pads you go through.  Now imagine that you cut all the way to the bone and screwed around with nerve endings.

This "it's fake" crap pisses me off because the people saying it frankly have no clue what they are talking about.  The procedure he went through would have put any one of you on the couch for three weeks.  He was pitching in front of 50,000 people two nights later.

Finally:

"If it was a guy like Beckett or Pedroia, I would believe them, but Curt has a history of theatrics."

He does?  A history?  Please explain and give specific examples.

End story:  The blood was proven to be Curt's through a standard DNA test before it was allowed into the HOF.  What did the guy do?  Gouge himself and put the blood on?  Please.  Don't like him if you don't want to, whatever.  But this "it was fake" thing is one of the dumbest things I've heard since "if it don't fit you must acquit."

Why are we debating blood on a sock?  We all know he had the procedure.

Because we feel like it?