The Reasoning for Curt Schilling’s Controversial Hall of Fame Snub
There is no doubt that compared to the four major sport associations, Major League Baseball has the most prestigious Hall of Fame. The Baseball Hall of Fame elect’s players based on votes cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, or the BBWAA. To be eligible, players must have played in MLB for at least 10 seasons and have been retired for at least five. Managers and umpires must have served in their role for at least 10 seasons. To be elected, a player must receive votes from at least 75 percent of the ballots. The system that is set up to join the club is designed to prevent it from turning into the “hall of very good” but it also goes beyond just the numbers. According to the BBWAA, voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team or teams on which the player played.
In the history of this voting system, only one player has ever been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame unanimously. In 2019, it was New York Yankees closing pitcher Mariano Rivera who hit that mark receiving 425 of 425 votes. There are two players who just missed out on 100 percent missing one vote each, Derek Jeter in 2020 and Ichiro Suzuki just this year in 2025. So what prevented these two players from reaching unanimous immortality? Well the voters have the option to keep their ballots and their reasonings private so the exact details may never be known but because it is opinion based it can range of any reason, from a voter just feeling rubbed the wrong way or maybe a voter just had a senior moment and did not even see a particular name on the ballot. This may be the case in this instance, but keeping Curt Schilling out of the Hall of Fame is no coincidence or accident.
If you just look at what Curt Schilling did on the baseball field you would think he would be a shoe-in for Cooperstown. His statistics and accomplishments speak for themselves. Schilling played for five different MLB organizations over his career spanning from 1988 to 2007. He accumulated 216 wins with a 3.46 ERA and 3,116 strikeouts in 3,261 innings pitched. In those 20 years he was selected to six All-Star games, won three World Series, a World Series MVP, NLCS MVP and even a Roberto Clemente Humanitarian Award. He finished as Cy Young runner-up three times.
In his two-decade career he also garnered a 79.5 WAR or Wins Above Replacement which is a baseball statistic that measures a player's value to their team. For instance, his 79.5 WAR is higher than the three aforementioned players. Riviera sported a 56.3 WAR, Jeter a 71.3, and Suzuki a 60.0. With many of Schilling’s statistical and accomplishment marks surpassing what is necessary to join the Baseball Hall of Fame, what prevented him from eclipsing the 75 percent of the vote that is required? It is believed that those reasons fall within the “integrity, sportsmanship, character” categories.
Schilling played during the well documented PED era and if that was not controversy enough, his actions certainly did not help him. During his playing career, Schilling was never too shy about his political beliefs but once he retired, he seemed to really let loose. He called some of the baseball writers “scumbags” and some of the worst people he had ever known. There was his love letter to the very people he would need to be vying for him to join the Hall of Fame. His first year on the ballot he only received 38.8 percent of the vote. If the writers were not satisfied with enough reasons to keep him out, Schilling later would go on to make many degrading remarks.
He infamously tweeted a comparison between Muslims and Nazi Germany, justified hanging journalists, said Hillary Clinton should be “buried under a jail somewhere”, and went on Facebook to voice his opinion against transgender rights. He was suspended and then finally fired from his role at ESPN in 2016. Oddly enough, his voting percentages actually rose in the coming years and even hit 71.1 percent in 2021, his ninth year on the ballot. In 2022, Schilling wrote a letter to the Hall of Fame requesting he be left off the ballot in his final year eligible, stating that he did not want to be a part of the club. His request was denied and he only generated 58.6 percent of the vote in his final year.
Barring some unprecedented event, Curt Schilling will never be a Hall of Famer, but neither will Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. Bonds and Clemens were both left out due to the performance enhancing drug rumors that surrounded their careers. Perhaps just PEDs were enough to keep Schilling out of the Hall as well but he definitely did not help himself a single bit with his words against the voters and other minority groups. Baseball’s Hall of Fame has always lived up to its strict rules and exceptions have yet to be made. Bonds is the league’s all time home run leader and along with him, the league’s all time hits leader, Pete Rose is also a name you will not find in Cooperstown for his own unpopularity and controversy with the writers. Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on baseball games while he played for and managed the Cincinnati Reds.
The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame has been since 1939 and has altered its rules for no man or woman. Many fans and players believe there have been lots of snubs throughout history. Schilling, Bonds, Clemens and Rose all have strong cases to be enshrined in baseball forever. Should a player's actions off the playing surface play a part in whether or not they are inducted into any sport’s Hall of Fame? It is a dialogue always worth considering.
