Outspoken conservative Curt Schilling is not afraid to speak his mind when it comes to his conservative views. He is certain that the reason he's not in the Hall of Fame because of that.
Schilling pitched for several Major League Baseball teams including the Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Phillies. He won three World Series championships, was a six-time All-Star and struck out more than 3,000 batters.
Normally when you add up all of his credentials it results in a surefire trip to Cooperstown and a Hall of Fame enshrinement. Somehow for Schilling this has not been enough to get him in. While speaking with Mark Levin of Fox News, Schilling told him it is certainly because he is an outspoken conservative.
“It’s not a guess. There are people who have not voted for me specifically because of the things I’ve said or did,” Schilling said. “They’ve said it. They’ve come out and said, ‘I can’t vote for him because of what he said or what he did.'”
Curt Schilling on why he's not in the Hall of Fame
Schilling made mention of baseball writers having the ability to not vote a player in because of a "character clause." Meaning that if the player did something in the past to damage his reputation, he can be passed up on the ballot.
Players like Barry Bonds have not made it into the Hall of Fame yet due to his usage of performance-enhancing drugs. This is something Schilling claims he has never taken part in.
Though Schilling deserves to be in the Hall of Fame based on his performance, he is able to move past it by using some advice given to him by his father: “Don’t ever live your life trying to please people you don’t know.”
While Schilling's baseball career is over, is there any chance he runs for office? Many people have called for it. He said he has considered it, but it's not likely.
“When I watched the [Justice Brett] Kavanaugh hearing and realized that the conservative wives, spouses, and children are now in play for the media, my family doesn’t deserve that, and they’re not — they spent 20 years following me around in baseball. I’m not going to subject them to that,” Schilling said per IJR.com.
Schilling also lost his job from ESPN. He claims this happened due to speaking out about politics in a conservative manner, while the network has protected their outspoken commentators when they lean to the left.