Curt Schilling on the cusp of induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Whenever you hear any talk of the importance of character or "protecting the integrity of the game" cited as criteria for election to the Hall of Fame, you have express permission involuntarily snort, spit, laugh, shake your head (or all of the above) in the face of the speaker of those words. Racist, homophobic, crooked piece of shit Curt Schilling is about to be voted into the Hall of Fame. None of those things matter. Schilling has quite a record outside of baseball. Defrauding the taxpayers of Rhode Island? Check. Consipriacy theorist? Check. Racist? Check. Homophobe? Check. Calling for the lynching of journalists? Check (for a bonus he's called them scumbags and the worst people on Earth) Add his recent devotion to denying that the election results were legit. Somewhere, Ty Cobb is rooting for Schilling to challenge him for the designation of the worst person in the Hall of Fame.
By the time he first appeared on a ballot in 2013, Schilling was embroiled in a massive lawsuit with the state of Rhode Island after a scandal involving misuse and default on a $75 million loan granted by the state to a gaming company fronted by Schilling. At the time, it appeared he’d have significant difficulty overcoming the Hall’s infamous character clause. Already unpopular with the press after years of feuding with teammates, executives, and media members alike, he garnered just 39% of the vote on his first go-around, falling to 29% the next year.
Since then, however, the Schilling vote has steadily increased, culminating in his 70% share in last year’s election. This is despite the increasingly problematic—to be generous—nature of his behavior since his first ballot. Already known for his fringe views, Schilling first flared back into the spotlight in 2014, when then-ESPN prospect analyst Keith Law was suspended from the network following a Twitter exchange with Schilling in which the latter repeatedly denied evolution.
The following year, Schilling himself was suspended from broadcast duties (in the midst of calling the Little League World Series, no less) when he shared memes and an incoherent diatribe likening Muslims to Nazis. He was finally fired from the network in 2016 after sharing more hateful posts targeting trans and other LGBTQ+ communities.
That’s only the beginning. Since then, Schilling has fully embraced his alt-right persona. Some of the more notable ways in which he’s used his sizable platform include sharing tweets and Facebook posts advocating for the lynching of journalists, agreeing with and promoting white supremacists on his Breitbart radio show, peddling QAnon takes, and generally spending his days regurgitating racist tropes and abuse across his social media accounts. As of yesterday, he still thinks the election was rigged and/or stolen. Make of that what you will.
https://www.pitcherlist.com/why-curt-schilling-has-no-place-in-cooperstown/
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