Curt Schilling isn't surprised Red Sox left him out of World Series ceremony
Curt Schilling isn’t surprised and definitely isn’t mad that the Boston Red Sox didn’t invite him to throw out the first pitch of World Series Game 2 with other members of the 2004 championship Red Sox team. The former Red Sox pitcher wrote a lengthy Facebook post early Thursday morning to explain that he’s totally not mad about it.
Schilling’s response to the Red Sox
Schilling took to Facebook to discuss his non-invitation to the first pitch, which he said he didn’t even know about until he saw that he was trending on Twitter late Wednesday afternoon. Despite the Red Sox executive’s assertion that the event came together organically and not inviting him wasn’t spiteful, Schilling doesn’t believe it. He believes he wasn’t invited “100% on purpose.”
Schilling has no love for Red Sox owners and executives. He has previously accused them of being shady and dishonest with him over his contract in the final few years of his career, and he still seems miffed about it.
White privileged rich “men” hate me? People, who have and will again ruin others lives to make themselves appear flawless? People who’ve never broken a sweat, cried and or bled for something bigger than themselves think ill of me?
Schilling recognized that public opinion may have played a part in his non-involvement, and took offense to people calling him racist.
The anger for me is what people have done and said to my family. First off 99% of the complaints and disparaging comments are complete lies and total bull—-. To this day no one has ever provided even an ounce of evidence to prove or convince people I am a racist.
Why? Why not a single teammate ever, 22+ years, ever came out and said I was a racist, bigot or any other bull—- tag liberals want to pin on me. No cab driver, clubhouse guy, hotel staffer, or fan, has ever or will ever come out with that kind of story about me because it does not exist.
While it’s true that none of his teammates have ever come forward to say that Schilling is racist, nor cab drivers or hotel staffers, Schilling’s public comments over the past few years have caused many to distance themselves from him.
He was suspended and fired from his broadcasting job at ESPN for posting anti-Muslim and anti-transgender memes on social media. He accused Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones of lying when Jones revealed that he’d experienced racist taunting at Fenway Park. He invited Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semitic, white supremacist congressional candidate onto his radio show. He supported T-shirts that suggested lynching journalists.
Schilling will ‘sleep soundly’
Schilling said he was spurred to write a Facebook post because he had been overwhelmed by messages of support from friends and fans who weren’t happy that the Red Sox hadn’t invited him.
I wanted to write this because I have been overwhelmed with DM’s PM’s and texts to a level I had no concept of, of people apologizing for the Sox.
No need. I will sleep soundly again tonight because I know what I did in 2004, the men on that field know what I did.
Most importantly? The men who sit in that ivory tower and pass their judgment from on high know EXACTLY what I did and it shames them as men knowing they’ll never in their lives be able to do anything remotely close to that.
And while he said he doesn’t need a ceremony to remind him of what the 2004 team accomplished, he continued to lash out at Red Sox executives.
So no, I didn’t get invited, I didn’t get snubbed.
I just didn’t get an invitation from a few weak ‘men’ who’ve spent their entire lives paying and watching other men achieve.
Why wasn’t Schilling invited to the World Series ceremony?
With the Red Sox close to winning their fourth World Series in 15 years, the team has been paying tribute to the three previous World Series victories. A Red Sox executive told Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe that originally the first pitch ceremony before Game 2 was going to include only Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield and Kevin Millar, all from the 2004 team. But other 2004 teammates heard about it and wanted to be included, and it came together organically.
The executive told Shaughnessy that “we did not reach out to [Schilling], but it is not out of spite.” Schilling’s public comments in recent years have made him a divisive and controversial figure, and the Red Sox may not have wanted to bring that attention to a pregame ceremony.
But it doesn’t seem to matter whether or not Schilling is present. As long as he’s involved, even from afar, there’s going to be attention, and not even the Red Sox can avoid it.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.
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