Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said on the air Wednesday night that Curt Schilling’s famed sock was not bloody but painted and ‘all for PR.’ He quoted Boston’s Doug Mirabelli, touching off angry denials from the catcher and the Red Sox.
Schilling pitched with a damaged ankle that was allegedly stitched, allowing him to face the Yankees in Game 6 of the dramatic 2004 ALCS. Schilling won that start 6-1 at Yankee Stadium as the Red Sox were rallying from an 0-3 deficit to win the series and then their first World Series since 1918.
Cameras repreatedly showed Schilling’s red-soaked sock during the start, and the sock and game became instant classics for Red Sox fans. The sock is currently on loan to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“It was painted,” Thorne said on the air. “Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR.”
The backup catcher denied it Wednesday night.
“What? Are you kidding me? He’s [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli told the Boston Globe. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.”
I totally believe he faked it. A) Schilling is dramatic like that. B) The Red Sox were toast and needed some kind of Rudy moment to carry momentum through to Game 7; it’s the equivalent of a coach purposely getting himself thrown out of a game to rile up his players. On a related note, C) I think Schilling perceives himself as a leader type of guy — something in the Bush mold (speaking of which) — bold, brash, bet-taking. But more cynically, D) that sock is now in the Hall of Fame; I myself remember pontificating loudly and knowingly (and in retrospect, misguidedly) that Curt Schilling would be remembered years later for single-handedly exorcising the “1918″ chant from obnoxious Yankee fans’ limited repertoire. (If you want to become even more cynical, read this and the other kind of Rudyism comes to mind.)
As more time has passed, I fully believe Schilling wanted to burnish his place in history by stealing the limelight from whoever else was on that team that year (Pedro who? Someone Damon? Manny Whozziwhatzit?) . . . it’s positively Clintonian. It’s also why Phillies and Diamondbacks fans consider now Schilling to be quite a prima donna.
Now Playing: Episode 356
The Republican Convention, Fannie and Freddie go bust, and finally, our international news roundup.
Links Mentioned: Europeans try to placate the Russians … details on the bail-out … a brief history of Fannie and Freddie … Mark Schmitt on Obama’s high-risk, high-reward strategy … Biden tears it up on the trail.
Damn! You beat me to it. I was going to post with a title something like “Another Bush Supporter Lies” … something to that effect. IIRC, Schilling whored himself out as a, er, shill for Bush & Co. in the ‘04 elections.