Thursday, May 7, 2015

#421 Curt Schilling

About the Front: Curt Schilling is modeling the new (as of 1992) Phillies uniform, modeled closely after the team's duds from 1950-1969. As you can see, it's the only uniform in MLB to feature a smaller player number on the left sleeve in addition to the larger number placement on the back.

About the Back: The trade that brought Schilling to the Phillies sent fungible pitcher Jason Grimsley to Houston, and the kicker is that it wasn't the worst deal involving Schilling. That honor goes to my Orioles, who swapped the talented but immature righty to the Astros along with Pete Harnisch AND Steve Finley, all in return for gimpy Glenn Davis. The Phils kept the tradition alive in July of 2000 by shipping Curt off to Arizona for four players, the best of whom was Vicente Padilla. The Diamondbacks paid it forward to Boston prior to 2004, giving up Schilling for a quartet headlined by Jorge de la Rosa, who was immediately flipped in a trade for Richie Sexson. It makes the head swim, doesn't it?

Triple Play:

1. Nobody asked me, but Schilling should be in the Hall of Fame. In a career that spanned 20 years, he had a record of 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA (127 ERA+) and 3,116 strikeouts (15th most all-time). Consider his postseason record as well: 11-2 in 19 games with a 2.23 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. He was the 1993 NLCS MVP and shared MVP honors in the 2001 World Series with Randy Johnson, as he held the Yankees to four runs on a dozen hits in 21.1 innings, striking out 26 and walking TWO.

2. He's long been an avid role-playing gamer, both board games (such as Advanced Squad Leader) and video games (including EverQuest I and II and World of Warcraft). After retiring from baseball, he founded Green Monster Games, later renamed 38 Studios. In 2012, the company released the critically-acclaimed role-playing video game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning; however, the company filed for bankruptcy just months later and Schilling laid off all of his employees.

3. Curt announced in early 2014 that he was undergoing treatment for oral cancer, and as of August 2014 he was in remission. He is currently an analyst on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball telecast.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I'd love to pay a visit to my younger self and explain to him that Schilling saw a post about himself on my other blog, which prompted him to sponsor my entry in the Polar Bear Plunge for a hundred bucks. I wonder which part of that sentence would make the least sense to me.

Bill James Said: "Throws to first base less often than any other major league pitcher, only 17 times in '93 (last among pitchers with 162 innings pitched)."

On This Date in 1993: May 7. Silent film actress Mary Philbin dies of pneumonia at age 90.

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