March 23, 2009

Curt Schilling Announces Retirement

Schilling:
This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world's best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.
***

Kevin Youkilis returns to the Red Sox lineup today.

44 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm a fan. I wish he would have shut the fuck up sometimes, but he's one of the toughest players I've ever seen. Hall of Fame worthy, in my opinion.

Benjamin said...

They fixed the "baited breath" typo pretty quickly. WEEI has a crack editing squad.

laura k said...

Thanks for 2004, Curt. No thanks for 2001. I can't stand you and am happy you're gone.

FenFan said...

Thanks again for 2004 and 2007, Curt. Not a first-ballot selection but he should get to Cooperstown eventually.

Jere said...

Whenever somebody says "zero" of something, instead of just "no" something, I think of Joey Buttafuoco telling us how Amy Fisher has "zero credibility."

Pepe Lepew said...

Love the pitcher.
Hate the man.
Maybe he'll become Sarah Palin's campaign manager in 2012.

laura k said...

They do hail from the same state.

Patrick said...

Thanks for 2004, Curt. No thanks for 2001. I can't stand you and am happy you're gone.

Amen.

laura k said...

Amen.

Presumably without the 2001. Pretty sure I'm the only person here who doesn't think Curt for 2001! :)

allan said...

I loved 2001.

Not nearly as much as 2004 or 2007, but a lot.

A lot!

Yep.

Pepe Lepew said...

They do hail from the same state.

And feel compelled to wear the same Jesus on their sleeves.

Jere said...

"Thanks for 2004, Curt. No thanks for 2001. I can't stand you and am happy you're gone.

Amen."

patrick, patrick, patrick....

Patrick said...

And yes I don't agree with '01 but I will using the full quote.

tim said...

Fuck, I hate Tony Mazzarotti

Last line: If that doesn’t make you a little nervous, it should.

OOOOOOOOOOOOkay then, CHB Jr.

Zenslinger said...

We just hit four dongs in a row vs. Detroit. Lowell, Bay, Carter, Ochoa (hitting for Lowire)...at least that's what the MLB box score is telling us.

As for the big Schill, I've vacillated between admiration and annoyance with him. In the end, the positives win out.

accudart said...

Thanks Curt, great money pitcher. You helped deliver us to the promise land. Not crazy about your political views but your not afraid to share your views.... and I guess that is a good thing.

Unknown said...

Eh, I don't hate the man nearly as much as most of you. The fucking conservative bullshit got pretty trying, but he did tell some of the WEEI idiots that Obama* couldn't be both a Muslim and a fanatical black Christian and called them on repeating a lot of the bullshit that conservatives were using to attack Obama. He may be an idiot, but he always struck me as a principled idiot.



*The above does not in any way indicate that I am a huge fan of Obama or the Democratic party, although I was certainly happier w/ Obama in power than McCain.

Benjamin said...

When thanking Schilling for 2004, make sure you specify "October 2004". His role in making November 2004 possible should be distinguished.

Meanwhile, Lowell, Bay, Carter, and Ochoa go back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the 6th against the Tigers. 7-0 us.

laura k said...

Patrick has a good point, people have been slammed here lately for using edited quotes.

Not by me, of course. Editing is what it's all about where I live.

I loved 2001.

Not nearly as much as 2004 or 2007, but a lot.


So I've heard.

Jere said...

I don't feel all misty-eyed about Curt today because 1. he hasn't played in a year and a half and 2. this could be one of 38Retirements as far as we know. I am grateful to the guy, of course, but today's announcement isn't doing much for me.

Zenslinger said...

Apparently we have a pitcher named Large ("lar-hay"?) who came in in the eighth to walk five in a row. Maybe we felt sorry for the Tigers after the dong-a-thon?

Benjamin said...

TJ Large is from Largo, Florida. True story.

allan said...

Kilgore says that after the 4 dongs, Dusty Brown popped to first and was booed.

Ortiz stole a base!

T.J. Large -- 6 BF, 5 BB.

Geoff said...

There is a dearth of people who say what they believe and deliver on what they say. Schilling is one of the few. And I am thankful, in particular, for 2004.

I don't have to agree with his politics but I can appreciate his honesty.

Thanks for the memories Curt.

allan said...

There is a dearth of people who say what they believe and deliver on what they say.

There is no shortage of evil people who "say what they believe and deliver on what they say". I don't see that as a positive quailty, necessarily.

I don't have to agree with his politics but I can appreciate his honesty.

Do you mean his honesty re politics? If so, why?

Benjamin said...

For what it's worth, Lyon was one of the players the Sox traded for Schilling.

Unknown said...

Come on, redsock, you don't think Curt Schilling is an evil person, do you? He's obnoxious, and his politics are stupid and misinformed, but most people's politics are stupid and misinformed. He refused to participate in the Obama* character assassination, which to me indicates that he's principled, which I can appreciate.


*Again, acknowledging that Obama has his share of pretty key failings. I'm using the example because it's a pretty good example of Schilling not just being a Rush Limbaugh style ideologue.

9casey said...

Alot of , Thanks Curt, followed by "buts"......I loved him and I don't apoligize for it....


I have alot of friends I don't agree with everything on, but I still respect them, Curt Schilling has done a lot of good with his celebrity, and raised millions of dollars for some worthy causes....

Good for him he had a great career

Geoff said...

Evil? We are talking baseball. He said he was coming to Boston to deliver a championship. He did it. He is hardly evil.

As for his politics I am personally the polar opposite of him. But I do think he is honest about what he stands for. I prefer that to someone who is disingenuous about everything.

andy said...

Is it pronounced lar ho?

andy said...

What if his name was huge.

allan said...

Come on, redsock, you don't think Curt Schilling is an evil person, do you?

No. And I never said he was.

I said that the praising someone for "say[ing] what they believe and deliver[ing] on what they say" seems bizarre to me.

Sometimes it's good, like Schilling's truck commercial about bringing a title to Boston. Other times, well, people acting on their beliefs is not so good ...

I do think he is honest about what he stands for. I prefer that to someone who is disingenuous about everything.

I think he's honest, too, and it's always good if someone says exactly how they feel rather than being mealy-mouthed to suit their audience or what they feel they have to say.

But Schilling holds opinions that are obscene to me. In the case of Iraq, those opinions (as also held by people holding power) have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people (and caused suffering that will continue for decades) for no reason other than money, oil and greed. (My tax money funded some of that murder and torture also.)

And Schilling is a smart guy. He really should know better.

I'll always get chills watching videos of him in 2004. He risked his career for the Red Sox -- as did Keith Foulke -- and they both delivered bigger than anyone could have imagined.

But when I see Schilling showboating his faith behind the mound in those starts, and when I hear him thank Jesus for his career, I'll think of the other things.

...

(Who's the comedian who says that if Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up?)

Patrick said...

(Who's the comedian who says that if Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up?)

Sounds like one of my personal favorites, Bill Hicks. Though I'm not sure.

Benjamin said...

(Who's the comedian who says that if Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up?)

Max von Sydow.

9casey said...

ESPN Classic , on the ball , just showed game 6 of '04.....nice, for some reason I thought Bernie was going to tie it.....

Benjamin said...

In Canadian player news, the Padres signed Shawn Hill today.

allan said...

Shawn Hill

Mississauga native.

...

I thought the comedian might be Mark Maron.

allan said...

Hicks was the man, by the way.

...

"looks like we got ourselves a reader .."

Patrick said...

ahh yes, the waffle house

Benjamin said...

Are you sure it wasn't Woody Allen? (Not that he has a Jesus dog in that Jesus fight.)

mugro said...

I don't listen to Schilling talk about politics. Period. That is how I deal with it. We enjoy freedom of speech in this country. Whether it is always good for us to exercise that right is another question, but we HAVE the right. Curt blathered on about his politics and his God a little too much in my opinion, but that is not why I watched him. I watched him because he was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. And a good one at that. There was NO ONE I would rather have standing on that mound in either 2004 or 2007 and he delivered.

How many of you watch Matt Damon movies because of his politics? Not many, I'd bet.

It angers me to hear baseball writers talk about Curt's chances of making the Hall of Fame in terms of how much he talked and blogged. What does that have to do with his BASEBALL career?

laura k said...

Re Jesus throwing up, I've heard Mark Maron say it, but I don't think it was original.

Not Bill Hicks, tho.

laura k said...

I don't listen to Schilling talk about politics. Period.

I'm surprised to hear that!

laura k said...

Btw, I am inclined to support anything Woody Harrelson or Tim Robbins does, regardless of quality, because give a lot of support to issues that are important to me. So it does work the other way, too.