Curt Schilling
In 2004, at the age of 37, Schilling won 21 games against only six losses with an ERA of 3.26. This was his third and final season, and the only one in Boston, in which Schilling won at least 20 games.
Schilling, a 6-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young Award runner-up, finished his 20-year career with a record of 216 victories against only 146 defeats, while posting a career ERA of 3.46, and amassing over 3100 strikeouts. There are only 16 members of the 3,000 strikeout club and all of them, with the exceptions of Schilling and Clemens are enshrined in Cooperstown.
Few fans realize that the Red Sox drafted Schilling in the second round of the 1986 amateur draft.
Schilling is a three-time World Series champion, in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox. In 2001, Schilling earned World Series MVP honors.
“Schill” was one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. In his postseason career, he has a record of 11 victories against only two defeats and possesses a sparkling 2.23 ERA.
Schilling will forever be associated with the “Bloody Sock” Game 6 victory against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. After a horrible three-inning performance in Game 1, as Schilling allowed six earned runs en route to the defeat, Schilling demonstrated the courage, valor, and heart that have defined over a century of Red Sox baseball.
With the Sox down three games to two, facing a third consecutive elimination game against the Yankees, Schilling took the mound with an ankle tendon stapled in place. Barely able to move and forced to pitch with below-average “stuff,” Schilling authored the most courageous and miraculous performance in the history of professional sports. On one leg, the righty held the Yankees to four hits and one run in seven innings, earning the win and forcing a decisive game seven.
The Red Sox emerged victorious in Game 7, becoming the only team in the history of baseball to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games of said series.
The Red Sox moved onto the World Series, sweeping the overmatched Cardinals and winning their first championship since 1918.
Next: Josh Beckett