To Curt Schilling, no endeavor is appealing unless "I have a chance to be better than anyone else in the world." Run a marathon? Forget it. The idea of being halfway through a course when the winner crosses the finishes line, he said, holds no interest for him.
Congratulations to Barry Larkin, who was elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday with the credentials of everything you would want in an elite player. Larkin played every phase of the game well, redefined his position, shortstop, never had to change positions or change teams and boasted a healthy peak and longevity to his career. Joe Morgan, another Reds great, said it best when he remarked, "Barry Larkin's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame comes at a time when statistics are as important as the eye test, and Barry passes both tests. When you watched him play you knew he was a special player."
SI.com interviewed a number of former Sportsman on what the honor meant to them. Here SI.com's Ben Glicksman speaks with Curt Schilling, who shared the honor with Randy Johnson in 2001.
1. John Smoltz, Turner and MLB Network: Of all who signed with baseball broadcasting entities this offseason, from Aaron Boone to Nomar Garciaparra to J.P. Ricciardi, Smoltz has the best chance for long term stardom. The future Hall of Fame pitcher was pursued by ESPN, Fox, Turner and the MLB Network because their executives saw the same thing baseball beat writers did: an intelligent and thoughtful voice on the game. Smoltz will call regular-season and playoff games for Turner and do a handful of games for Peachtree Television (they broadcast Braves games along with Fox Sports South and SportSouth). He'll also work about 15 games for the MLB Network. As for a midseason comback, Smoltz said it's unlikely to happen.
Scott Brown, a little-known Republican state senator from Wrentham, Mass., last week pulled off one of the most shocking upsets in the long history of Bay State politics when he defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election to fill the empty U.S. Senate seat left by the late Ted Kennedy.
There has been a lot of talk -- a LOT of talk -- about whether or not Curt Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame. I am on record saying that yes, I do think he is a Hall of Famer. However, I must admit that by saying that, I could be falling for some of the mass media hype that, in my own small way, I contribute to on a daily basis.
Most media people today, especially the younger ones, sincerely believe the ethical standards today are much higher than they once were, and have been taught that in many journalism classes. I want to be on record disputing that view. Different? Certainly. Higher? By what measure? Lower? In many respects. One thing I can report as a fact, from personal experience: We were definitely less pretentious about it then. -- Leonard Koppett, The Rise and Fall of the Press Box
Curt Schilling has to be in the Hall of Fame.
No getting away from it: There is too much baseball. When the spring training game is over the international one follows, and afterward there is an interview with a disgraced player at pains to convey contrition. By the time the season starts, it has already been on for months. All the games and players start to look and sound the same.
SI.com's Joe Lumley spoke with Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci on Monday about Curt Schilling's retirement.
The possibility of a Subway Series died a well-deserved death a while back, sometime before Phil Hughes came back to continue his winless streak (he's only two behind Ian Kennedy now in the department of winless starts), and the chance for an Alligator Alley fight remains highly unlikely, despite the best efforts of the streaking Miracle Marlins. But some extremely enticing World Series matchups loom -- local and otherwise - including one that would be one "EL'' of a series.
When a hundred or so well-connected, well-heeled Barack Obama supporters attended a Silicon Valley fund-raiser for the candidate at the home of Symantec CEO John Thompson and his wife, Sandi, in June 2007, they were a bit shocked by the figure greeting them at the door. There was the smiling face of Los Angeles Clippers point guard Baron Davis, who later emceed the event and did everything that night but serve the hors d'oeuvres. When it came time to introduce the candidate himself, it was Davis who did the honors, not the hosts, who are minority owners of Davis's former team, the Golden State Warriors. Before handing the microphone over to Obama, Davis bellowed, "Without further ado, the next president of the United States!" and presented to the candidate a Warriors jersey with OBAMA 08 on the back. "That," says Davis, "was definitely one of the highlights of my life."
Someday, Hunter Pence may well be listed as one of the best players in the game. He may even appear on an MVP list or two. But at no time in our lives will we see him listed among the Top 100 Coolest Baseball Players Alive.
Curt Schilling has a shoulder injury that will keep him from being ready at the start of spring training and could even cause him to miss the entire season, reports the Boston Globe and Boston Herald
Curt Schilling, the split-finger fastballer from Boston with a penchant for honoring superstitions, playing through pain, and winning, says he intends to play only one more year of baseball. "I'm done. This is my final year," Schilling told a handful of journalists he'd invited to his top-floor suite in Caesar's Palace during this week's CES trade show.
updated: Wed Jan 09 2008 10:58:00
A musical look at the opening day of the International Consumer Electronics Show.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling called on Roger Clemens to give up the four Cy Young Awards he's won since 1997 if he can't clear his name from steroid allegations
Arizona Diamondbacks righthander Curt Schilling thinks twice before giving a teammate the traditional slap on the butt for a job well-done. "I'll pat guys on the ass, and they'll look at me and go, 'Don't hit me there, man. It hurts,'" Schilling says. "That's because that's where they shoot the steroid needles."
With his silver Ferrari beside him, engine running, Johnny Damon said he's not going anywhere. The New York Yankees left fielder emerged from morning meetings Wednesday with general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi convinced he will begin 2008 as the Yankees' leadoff hitter and left fielder, all but ending speculation that New York would try to trade him and get out from under the final two seasons of his contract.
Winter madness is starting early this year, thanks to the Red Sox's World Series sweep and Alex Rodriguez's opt-out clause.
My five cuts following Game 2 of the World Series:
Forget the laptop. Forget the notes. Forget the cold, the lateness, the stiffness in your back and legs. Forget the uniforms, white and red, your team's hated rival, a team you grew up loathing. Forget your job, forget the badge around your neck, forget your analysis and predictions, forget everything.
Was this it? Was this the last time the October ace pitched in a Red Sox uniform, the last time he pitched in a postseason game?
One of the worst aspects of this sports writing gig is you are forced to become a quasi-market analyst, deconstructing events by off-the-field factors. For example, we feel compelled to note the NBA suffers when the franchise in New York (let's leave their name out of this) is so weak that Madison Avenue does not plug its resources into the sport.
BOSTON -- They have a knack, these Red Sox do. It's impossible to deny now. The Sox have a knack for comebacks.
1. It was obvious by the third inning of ALCS Game 6. The Fenway Park scoreboard spelled out the huge opportunity in front of Daisuke Matsuzaka: the Red Sox put up an inning-by-inning line score to that point -- 406 -- that is the area code of Opportunity. (Opportunity, Mont., that is.) It's your call, Daisuke.
ANAHEIM -- He is no longer a menacing, made-for-October fireballer, but Curt Schilling, it turns out, can still bring it. "Remarkable," said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein after Schilling's virtuoso seven-inning performance in Game 3 of the AL Division Series in Anaheim. "His style has changed but his postseason results haven't. He has a smaller margin for error than ever, but he still went out there and did it."
PHILADELPHIA -- You wondered if we'd be out of practice. When we -- Philadelphians over the age of 14 years, three weeks -- last gathered at the home field for October playoff baseball, the leadoff hitter was Lenny Dykstra, the first baseman was John Kruk, the starting pitcher (Game 5, 1993 World Series) was Curt Schilling.
Also in this column: • Big Papi shatters myth • Can A-Rod, Schilling co-exist? • More news and notes
Regarding your NL MVP candidates, how about those two guys in Florida? Yes, the Marlins are not in playoff contention, but it's hard to ignore Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera, especially considering they're first and second, respectively, in the NL in VORP, and rank in the top three in Runs Created. It looks like you went through all the playoff-contending teams, and chose a "good" player from each. Let me ask you: If Cabrera were on a playoff-contender this season, would there be any doubt who the MVP was? -- Carolyn, Boca Raton, Fla.
Also in this column: • The decline of Carlos Delgado • Rangers spoil Trembley's day • More news and notes
Also in this column: • Why the Price was wrong • The problem with the draft • Red Sox catch a break • More news and notes
From Ryan Braun to brainy Tony La Russa, from Delmon Young to elderly Randy Johnson, from Sweet Lou Piniella to perpetually cranky Barry Bonds, here's a roster of the 30 players or key decision-makers who matter most to their respective teams in baseball's second half ...
There has been talk of Eric Gagne being traded. Do you think the Tigers have a legitimate shot at acquiring him, and at what cost? -- Colin Peterson, Grand Haven, Mich.
Maybe the next time a Boston pitcher takes a no-hit bid into the ninth inning, he'll listen to catcher Jason Varitek.
1. Dave Revsine, Big Ten Network anchor: You can tell a lot about an ESPN staffer by his or her Wikipedia page. A not-so-perfect rule of thumb: The shorter the entry, the less annoying the personality. Cut in the mold of All-Substance first teamers Brian Kenny and Dan Shulman, Revsine went about his work during his decade at the network with a quiet professionalism. Plug him into any role -- ESPN News, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio's College Game Day -- and viewers were always steered in a smart direction. This fall he becomes the face of the fledgling Big Ten Network, where he will anchor the nightly studio show and do play by play. "While it's tough to leave ESPN, this is the perfect job for me," said Revsine, a Midwesterner whose Big Ten roots include a degree from Northwestern and a sports anchor stint in the Quad Cities. The network debuts at the end of August and will air between 350 and 400 live events.
Six months ago nearly everyone was lambasting Barry Bonds. The Mark McGwire Hall of Fame vote was the high water mark for the media taking a stand against steroids. Alas, that solidarity is gone. For whatever reason, writers such as yourself are now beginning the campaign to rehabilitate Bonds' image. Why? Is it to build hype for the chase, to give you something to talk about? Is it in response to the supposed racial undertones to Bonds' records? For whatever reason, you should be ashamed. Baseball has been degraded enough, both by its own inaction and the implicit complicity of the media during the '90s. MLB seems unwilling to stand up to its steroids-laced record holders, but the media at least should try to stand for something. I'm very disappointed in you and many of your colleagues, both at SI and elsewhere. --Jeremy S., Arlington, Va.
Also in this column: • Mussina errs on Clemens • Schilling's latest gaffe • Toronto manager on hot seat • More news and notes
One day after ripping Barry Bonds in a local radio interview, Boston Red Sox right-hander Curt Schilling issued an apology to the Giants slugger on his personal blog, 38Pitches.com.
Also in this column: • Schilling mouths off again • Ortiz respects Barry Bonds • Pavano finally pays his agent • More news and notes
I got a kick out of Peyton Manning's Mastercard commerical where the guy serving coffee gets knocked over by a blast of steam in the face and Manning urges him to "rub some dirt on it." In this age of pitch counts and other bubblewrap training techniques and long preventative shut-downs, it can be hard to believe that the athlete's credo once resembled the black knight who loses assorted limbs in Monty Python & The Holy Grail and keeps fighting while insisting, "Come on, it's only a flesh wound!"
In the top of the eighth inning of the March 23 exhibition game between the Red Sox and Orioles, Boston first baseman Eric Hinske looked over his shoulder, saw me umpiring first base, did a double take and said, "Hey, what are you doing here?" Hinske quickly figured it out. After all, he was with Toronto in spring training 2005 when I spent a week playing for the Blue Jays.
1. Kobe Bryant's 50-point streak came to an end on Sunday night when he scored "only" 43 points as the Lakers beat the Warriors 115-113. Still, Bryant insisted he wasn't disappointed, saying that the most important thing was that he still took three times as many shots as any teammate. Oh, and the team won, that too.
More than any other sport, baseball has always produced great writing, but the immediacy of blogs are ideally suited to baseball's long season. "This ain't football," Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver once said, "We do this every day."
Reggie Bush's role in Ciara's new music video Like A Boy have intensified rumors that the duo are an item. In the video, which was shot in Los Angeles, Bush is quietly sitting in a chair while Ciara seductively moves around him; whispering in his ear, hitting him on the head, laying between his legs and kissing him on the cheek.
Also in this column: • Lowell on the Helton talks • Schilling's "fat chance" • Hall of Shame • More news and notes
1. Stepping up: Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein may be gritty and gutty, but he's also quite short. Fortunately he has a sense of humor about it, judging by his willingness to go along with the Lowell (Mass.) Spinners' Step Stool Giveaway Night this July. The 5-foot-6 World Series MVP began his professional career with the Spinners, now a Class A team in the Red Sox chain. The first 1,500 fans on July 20 will receive a kid's step stool bearing Eckstein's likeness. "If you're short like me," says Eckstein, "it's useful." The Spinners are known for their attention-grabbing promotions, such as their offer last year to buy new uniforms for any youth league team in New England that wanted to change its name from the (hated) Yankees to the Spinners. Actually, on some days that probably seems a like a fair offer to A-Rod.
Also in this column: • Drew likely to get his full $70 million • Schilling's "unretirement" • The next Derek Jeter? • More news and notes
Asking venture capitalists for great startup ideas is a little like asking Curt Schilling what pitch he's going to throw next. When we posed the question to dozens of VCs and investors around the country, more than a few indignantly shot back, "Are you out of your mind?"
It's not a big surprise that New York Yankees player Jason Giambi is less popular with both fans and advertisers than he once was.
Sen. John Kerry and President Bush called in baseball figures to pitch for their campaigns Sunday, looking to capitalize on the national pastime.
MANAGING Rules of the Game All-Star pitcher Curt Schilling talks with FSB about how the lessons of baseball apply to entrepreneurship.
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