Ever since he was suspended by ESPN during his coverage of the Little League World Series for an unacceptable tweet that he posted and then deleted back in 2015, former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's character has been brought into question.
On Thursday, it was brought into question once again after he revealed on his podcast a day earlier that former teammate, and member of Boston's pre-game and postgame show on NESN, Tim Wakefield, has been battling a form of brain cancer. Something that Wakefield himself had not revealed publicly, and, likely, had not planned on revealing until the off-season at the earliest.
Schilling's shocking reveal has upset many fans, media types, and even former teammates wives including Catherine Varitek who took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her NSFW displeasure.
Former teammate Lou Merloni of WEEI and NESN, was also equally upset.
I would think that if you were to release such personal information about someone else, you would get permission to do so from that person. The man has been thru enough this year. 🙏#49
— Lou Merloni (@LouMerloni) September 28, 2023
The Red Sox have released a statement.
The #RedSox today issued the following statement with permission from Tim and Stacy Wakefield: pic.twitter.com/iQqkhxRSyt
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 28, 2023
But... That wasn't the worst he's done recently
Recently, Schilling also reposted on X a post by a man by the name of Lucas Gage that carried with it some anti-Semitic comments. Schilling has since deleted the reposting, but the original post can still be found online from Gage.
The post included comments about "the Jewish Question" and "the Final Solution", both of which were part of Nazi propoganda in World War II.
Schilling has said:
"In talking to one of my boys it is clear I shouldn't have done so, with such a nonchalant attitude. I have had and always had many friends of differing dedication to their Jewish faith. I don't possess an ounce of anti-semitism, never have... Anyone who took this repost as some sort of endorsement of anti-semitism, you were wrong. I could have done a far better job of elaborating, given I didn't elaborate even a little, and that's on me, and I apologize to anyone who is a rational adult who thought I might have been endorsing some sort of anti-semitic opinion. Anyone who actually knows me knows for a fact nothing could be farther from the truth."
Schilling has long said that much of his "controversial" statements that are taken the wrong way are taken as such, can be looked at in in the opposite lens through conversations with "rational adults."
It is due to the lack of "rational adults" that he requested to be taken off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2022. That request, however, was denied on a unanimous vote by the Baseball Writes of America Association (BBWAA) and will remain on the ballot for his 10th (and final) year.
While some believe that his accomplishments on the field should speak for themselves and get him in, his character is what has detracted from him getting in.