Curt Schilling Retires -- is he a HOFer?
 

So Curt Schilling officially retired earlier this week. Is he a Hall of Famer in your mind, or not?

The stats:

216 wins (light for a HOFer, it's like 80th all-time)
146 losses
.596 Winning Percentage
No Cy Young Awards. Came in 2nd 3 times, and 4th once.
6 All Star Appearances
3.47 ERA
ERA +/- is a whopping +127
3116 strikeouts (15th all time)
11-2 record in playoffs with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts
3 World Series rings
20 game winner 3 times
The Bloody Sock!
An ungodly K/BB ratio.

It's a close call. The stats alone point to "no", but I keep coming back to two things -- first that he isn't tainted by steroids, and second that there are damn few pitchers over the last 15 years that someone would want starting Game 7 of a World Series over Schilling.

If we include public relations, he's a unanimous HOFer.


Baseball-wise, probably.

Yes but I'm biased from his time in Arizona.

yes
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Not before Blyleven. He can't get in and trumps just about all of Schilling's stats.

Agreed. I tend to think that Mussina deserves a look before Schilling, as well. Mussina played in the toughest division in baseball his entire career and racked up 280 wins. He always seemed to get the best of Pedro Martinez when they went head to head.

They both need in.

I can not believe Blyleven has not made it yet.

DaKCMan AP says yes, and that's all that really matters.

I've never bought all the stat freaks when it comes to baseball. They are the same people who give the Cy Young to the pitcher with the most wins, even though wins are more a product of the team than the pitcher, and is a less significant indicator than the pitcher’s individual numbers (ERA, K/BB, hits, etc).

Those "individual numbers" are stats. All of it is weighed in IMO.

I think it's the whole "if you can STILL get labeled the win even after having 8+ other guys in your koolaid"... thing.

he also played on the team that won the most, regardless of division. it makes sense he has a lot of wins.

No way.

Schilling just doesn't have the stats, for most of his career he was a good but not great pitcher. I like the guy, but he's no HOF'er.

He played 10 seasons with BALTIMORE and 8 seasons with the Yankees.

Mussina was a much more consistent pitcher than Schilling.

Also, you're forgetting that Mussina pitched on some really bad Orioles teams.