Schilling — Hall of Famer for more than one reason

By: Harvey

Yesterday Curt Schilling officially announced his retirement from baseball. At first glance, his 216 career wins don't sound overly impressive . . . but he was still 70 games over .500 and won 15 or more eight times. Wins and losses are overrated, anyway. I like the 3.46 career ERA and 3,116 career strikeouts against just 711 walks and the 1.14 WHIP.

Schilling had some heroic postseason efforts, also. Remember the bloody sock? The one-two punch with Randy Johnson to get the Diamondbacks their World Series? A few All-Star Game appearances and three second-place finishes in the Cy Young voting?

I think the guy is Hall of Fame material, too, but it's got nothing to do with stats.

Above all else, Schilling needs to be revered for his stance against steroids in baseball and his willingness ot speak up about it when most other people directly involved with the league have buried their heads in the sand and will continue to do so as long as it means a nice fat, steady paycheck.

Baseball needs guys like this; they are currently few and far between in MLB. Perhaps a wing in Cooperstown will be dedicated to the non-bullshitters of the Steroid Era. I can tell you one thing — it wouldn't be much of an addition at this point.

Of course the hell of it is this: before it's all said and done, we'll probably find out Schilling was a juicer just like all these other pieces of garbage. At this point, it just feels like you can't trust or believe in anybody — and that's what is so sad about the whole damned thing.