Cooperstown Choices: Curt Schilling

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling
The epitome of the term “big game pitcher”, Curt Schilling was the pitcher that helped the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox to World Championships. His 20 year career was highlighted with six all star appearances and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting three times. He also finished in the top 15 of the Most Valuable Player voting four times in his career.

Year	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	SO/9
1988	BAL	0	3	9.82	4	4	0	0	14.2	22	19	16	10	4	41	2.5
1989	BAL	0	1	6.23	5	1	0	0	8.2	10	6	6	3	6	63	6.2
1990	BAL	1	2	2.54	35	0	0	0	46.0	38	13	13	19	32	151	6.3
1991	HOU	3	5	3.81	56	0	0	0	75.2	79	35	32	39	71	92	8.4
1992	PHI	14	11	2.35	42	26	10	4	226.1	165	67	59	59	147	150	5.8
1993	PHI	16	7	4.02	34	34	7	2	235.1	234	114	105	57	186	99	7.1
1994	PHI	2	8	4.48	13	13	1	0	82.1	87	42	41	28	58	96	6.3
1995	PHI	7	5	3.57	17	17	1	0	116.0	96	52	46	26	114	118	8.8
1996	PHI	9	10	3.19	26	26	8	2	183.1	149	69	65	50	182	134	8.9
1997	PHI	17	11	2.97	35	35	7	2	254.1	208	96	84	58	*319*	143	11.3
1998	PHI	15	14	3.25	35	35	15	2	*268.2*	236	101	97	61	300	134	10.0
1999	PHI	15	6	3.54	24	24	8	1	180.1	159	74	71	44	152	136	7.6
2000	TOT	11	12	3.81	29	29	8	2	210.1	204	90	89	45	168	124	7.2
2000	PHI	6	6	3.91	16	16	4	1	112.2	110	49	49	32	96	120	7.7
2000	ARI	5	6	3.69	13	13	4	1	97.2	94	41	40	13	72	130	6.6
2001	ARI	22	6	2.98	35	35	6	1	*256.2*	237	86	85	39	293	157	10.3
2002	ARI	23	7	3.23	36	35	5	1	259.1	218	95	93	33	316	140	11.0
2003	ARI	8	9	2.95	24	24	3	2	168.0	144	58	55	32	194	159	10.4
2004	BOS	21	6	3.26	32	32	3	0	226.2	206	84	82	35	203	148	8.1
2005	BOS	8	8	5.69	32	11	0	0	93.1	121	59	59	22	87	80	8.4
2006	BOS	15	7	3.97	31	31	0	0	204.0	220	90	90	28	183	120	8.1
2007	BOS	9	8	3.87	24	24	1	1	151.0	165	68	65	23	101	123	6.0
20 Yrs		216	146	3.46	569	436	83	20	3261.0	2998	1318	1253	711	3116	127	8.6
162 Game Avg.		15	10	3.46	38	30	6	1	221	203	89	85	48	211	127	8.6
		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	SO/9
PHI (9 yrs)		101	78	3.35	242	226	61	14	1659.1	1444	664	617	415	1554	126	8.4
ARI (4 yrs)		58	28	3.14	108	107	18	5	781.2	693	280	273	117	875	148	10.1
BOS (4 yrs)		53	29	3.95	119	98	4	1	675.0	712	301	296	108	574	120	7.7
BAL (3 yrs)		1	6	4.54	44	5	0	0	69.1	70	38	35	32	42	85	5.5
HOU (1 yr)		3	5	3.81	56	0	0	0	75.2	79	35	32	39	71	92	8.4

NL (13 yrs)		162	111	3.30	406	333	79	19	2516.2	2216	979	922	571	2500	131	8.9
AL (7 yrs)		54	35	4.00	163	103	4	1	744.1	782	339	331	140	616	117	7.4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2012.

Why He Should Get In
Schilling’s case is one that is defined by his performance in big games and the postseason. While most of his regular season stats put him as a borderline hall of famer, his postseason numbers are seldom rivaled. With a 11-2 record, a 2.23 earned run average, an average of over 7 innings per start, a WHIP below one and a strikeout per nine innings over eight, his postseason prowess will have many clamoring for his induction based on the postseason alone.

Why He Should Not Get In
Yes, he was a huge pitcher in the postseason and had monumental success on the biggest stage. That being said, he does not have the hardware to back up his claim to Cooperstown. Finishing second multiple times for the Cy Young Award simply makes him the second best pitcher during those seasons. According to Baseball-Reference, he ranks as a slighly above the average hall of fame pitcher (according to the Jaffe WAR Score System). However, advanced statistics have yet to play a large influence on hall of fame voters.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
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Categorized | Cooperstown Choices 2013, I-70 Baseball Exclusives