Colorado Rockies: My (hypothetical) Hall of Fame ballot

Curt Schilling

A lot of people don’t like Curt Schilling and I can understand why. Regardless of whether you agree with some or all of his actions since his retirement or whether you agree with his politics or not, you can’t contend that he has not made the case for himself any easier.

I do understand people not voting for him because you can contend that this is part of the “character clause” in the BBWAA’s rules for election. Many agree that it’s an odd rule, especially considering some of the players that have been inducted decades ago that aren’t shining stars off the field.

Here’s the part of the rule, in case you’ve never seen it.

"“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”"

Why I would vote for Schilling and not for some other guys that some people have and will continue to vote for is because it’s after his career had ended. For the PED users, they surely didn’t live up to the “integrity” of our great game. Had Schilling done or said some of the stuff that he has said in his career, maybe it’s a different story but on the field, he’s a Hall of Famer.

He’s nearly an 80 WAR player who was a 6-time All-Star, won the World Series three times, was a World Series and NLCS MVP, and ranked in the top five in Cy Young Award voting four times including three, second-place finishes. That is the definition of a Hall of Famer.