Curt Schilling is a name that elicits a strong reaction from both the media and fans alike. His version of political conservativism has been wrapped in racism and other prejudices so often in the past that it is clearly effecting the way some look back on his career.
Bob Costas says that the Hall of Fame voting shows that is undeniable. He recently joined Rick Ballou on 1010XL in Jacksonville and said “I think at this point it’s the only explanation” for why Schilling is not yet a Hall of Famer.
For Costas, the answer lies within the votes. He noted that Schilling has so often been so close to meeting the threshold for Hall of Fame induction that it is inexplicable that votes have not risen to the point that he would be enshrined in Cooperstown.
“Almost anybody that gets to that 70% mark ultimately gets to that 75%, and he has some history of tweets and statements that alienated a lot of people, and rather than just cooling it in the past year, he almost doubled down,” Costas told Ballou. “I think without that, it’s reasonable to conclude that while it wasn’t unanimous that he had hall of fame credentials, the vast majority of voters feel that way, certainly enough to put him over 75%.”
In the past, Schilling has posted racist memes about Muslims, shared a number of homophobic and transphobic memes on social media, and most recently, expressed support for the insurrectionists that raided the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Costas rejects the idea that this is simply about punishing a conservative point of view. He pointed out that Mariano Rivera has always been a public supporter of Donald Trump, and not only did he get into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, he got 100% of the vote. Costas says that it isn’t about Schilling supporting the Republican Party. The objection is that he is so proudly part of what he calls the “nutcase wing of the party.”
What may surprise some is that even after being so critical of Schilling, Costas notes that he would still vote for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Costas was quick to point out that the problem is that only writers get a vote. Broadcasters are excluded.
“If I had a vote, I would have voted for Curt Schiling from day 1, and if I had a vote now, I would still vote for him.”
Costas concluded the discussion by saying that he and Schilling have always had a cordial relationship and have never been anything but friendly towards one another. He says that has made Schilling’s struggle to get over 75% of the Hall of Fame vote especially frustrating.
“I just wish he would stop hurting his own case this way. We’re all entitled to our own political views, but there are some that are just out of bounds. They’re way over the line. They could be over the line on the left. They could be over the line on the right. And he has crossed that line it is fair to say.”
