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The Sock

© Harold Friend

Here we go again. All the hullabaloo has been about Doug Mientkiewicz and the baseball he caught for the last out of the 2004 World Series, but lost in the shuffle is the blood stained sock that Curt Schilling wore in that Series. Northeastern University law professor Roger Abrams has stated that the sock is Red Sox property but "It's his blood that makes it valuable."

The sock has not been in the news lately but in November it was reported that Schilling was considering raising money for charity by auctioning it off. Schilling and his wife Shonda have helped to raise over $3 million for the ALS Foundation and named their first child Gehrig, in honor of the Yankees' first baseman. Schilling was selected the 2001 Sportsman of the Year by the Sporting News for his work off and on the field.

Few individuals are as competitive as Schilling but at certain times, the drive to win at any cost must be held in check. On August 4, 1999, during one of Shonda's pregnancies, it was discovered that she had a life threatening blood clot and was immediately hospitalized. Curt was still with the Phillies and was scheduled to make his first start after being out with shoulder surgery but Phillies' manager Terry Francona refused to let Schilling pitch and sent him home. "As much as I would have liked to have him pitch," said Francona, "I told him I thought he might regret that later."

The emergency was just a scare and Schilling's wife was fine but the situation reveals a lot about Curt.

Schilling is no dummy. He appeared on Good Morning America the day after the World Series ended and after Charles Gibson said to Curt and Shonda, "You'll both certainly have lifelong membership now in Red Sox nation, great to have you with us, congratulations," Curt responded by saying, "Make sure you tell everybody to vote, and vote Bush next week."

Charles P. Pierce, in Slate, has written that Schilling seems to know it all and that he's capable of not only making a close observer admire his gritty determination and splitter, but he is also capable of making that observer conclude that he is "...as full of crap as the Christmas goose. He is a Serious Fellow, and he's most Serious about being seen as a Serious Fellow."

Most fans know that Schilling calls up radio talk shows, is active on internet baseball forums, and that he tells fans not to believe what they read in the papers (which is probably a good idea). Newsday's Jon Heyman reported that former Phillies' manager Jim Fregosi referred to Schilling as "Red Light Curt" because of his penchant for finding television cameras. Ed Wade, the Phillies' general manager who has his own credibility problems, said that Schilling was a horse every fourth day and a horse's ass the other three.