With news that Curt Schilling may have pitched his last game, Mike Greenberg considers if he is Hall of Fame material:
Here’s what I’ve always said about the Hall of Fame, and listen, we’ve had more than our share of fun with Curt Schilling. To me, you close your eyes when you hear the player’s name and you say, “Yes” or “No”. Usually, that winds up being the right answer. Now, sometimes, you’ll go to the numbers, and you’ll see someone who you were inclined to say “no” has numbers so spectacular you have to change your mind, and, far less frequently, someone you would say “yes” to, you say, “You know what? Maybe not.” With Curt Schilling, to me, you close your eyes, and I say “yes”. The first thought that jumps into my mind is “yes”, and the biggest part of the reason why is he was as good a big-game pitcher as we’ve had in baseball in the last twenty years. His numbers, career-wise, will not stack up to some of those in his generation. He is relatively the same age as guys like Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, so just stopping there, those four guys historically are greater pitchers than he is. But, if you said to me I could give the ball to any guy from this era in Game 7 of a World Series - he did pitch at least one - I’m not sure I wouldn’t give it to him.