Outspoken conservative Curt Schilling was denied entry into baseball's Hall of Fame on Tuesday, receiving just 58.6% support in the ballot results in his 10th and final year.
Schilling had asked the Hall of Fame ballot to remove him in his final year, a request that was denied by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWA) that conducts the vote. Before making his verbal boycott of the Hall of Fame, Schilling was on the cusp of the 75% of the vote needed for Hall of Fame induction with 71.1% of the vote in 2021.
Despite falling short, Schilling was gracious on Twitter, offering congratulations to former Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"Every year the conversation revolves around who didn't get in. Like All Star voting, who got cheated," Schilling tweeted. "I say it every year and especially this year, focus on who did get in @davidortiz deserved a 1st ballot induction! Congratulations my friend you earned it! #bigpapiHoF"
Schilling was a six-time All-Star who went 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA, 3,116 strikeouts, 83 complete games and 20 shutouts in 20 seasons from 1988-2007 with the Baltimore Orioles (1988-90), Houston Astros (1991), Philadelphia Phillies (1992-2000), Arizona Diamondbacks (2000-03) and Boston Red Sox (2004-07). He walked just 711 batters in 3,261 innings.
He was twice runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award (2001-02) and also finished second for the AL Cy Young Award in 2004. Schilling won more than 20 games in each of those three seasons, including a career-best 23 for the Diamondbacks in 2002.
Schilling was a big-game pitcher in the postseason, going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and two shutouts in 19 starts. He was World Series co-MVP with Randy Johnson in 2001 when Arizona defeated the Yankees in seven games. He also was part of two title teams with the Red Sox (2004, 2007).
He was famous for pitching in the 2004 postseason with a bloody sock, as stitches from an ankle injury ruptured during the game and broadcast cameras caught the scene, hailing him as a hero.
His status as such waned when his politics were involved.
Schilling told Newsmax's "Stinchfield" last year he has been a victim of cancel culture due to his bold, conservative political views, saying "since I retired, since I was outed as a conservative patriot American who loves his country."
"I know I was; I mean, the writers wrote about it; I'm not guessing," Schilling told host Grant Stinchfield of the political persecution.
"This all started the morning after Game 4 of winning the 2004 World Series, and I came out and supported President [George W.] Bush. It's been ever since then."
After the election was certified for President Joe Biden in January 2021, Schilling said the only television he watched in the weeks following was Newsmax.
"Companies like yours, people need to seek out the truth," Schilling told "America Agenda" last January. "It's not easy anymore. It's going to take effort. It's not easy to just flick on the TV and find news. You have to work for it."