Dan Shaughnessy: A Simpleton or Simply Clueless?
Dan Shaughnessy took the news of Curt Schilling’s season ending surgery as an opportunity to write yet another bitter rant about a player that helped the Red Sox win 2 World Series titles in the 4 years he’s been with the team.
Included among the insults is a comical look at Schilling’s Hall of Fame chances:
Assuming he never pitches again (not a stretch, according to 38Pitches), Schilling finishes with a won-lost record of 216-146. Sorry, that just doesn’t cut it - not unless Bert Blyleven and Jack Morris go in first. Blyleven won 287 games. Morris won 254.
Shaughnessy, a professional sports journalist, uses wins as the sole measure of Schilling’s career and Hall of Fame chances.
Here’s how Jayson Stark looks at the case for Schilling to enter the Hall of Fame:
Schilling not only led all of them in complete games (with 83), but only one other righthander in the whole sport (Greg Maddux) was closer than 25 CGs away. Just Pedro Martinez had a better strikeout ratio than Schilling (8.59 K/9). Only Pedro and Roger Clemens had more strikeouts than Schilling (3,116) , period. Just Pedro and Maddux had a better WHIP than Schilling (1.137). And nobody had a better strikeout-walk ratio. In fact, Schilling’s K/BB ratio (4.38 whiffs for every walk) ranks No. 1 among ALL PITCHERS IN THE MODERN ERA.
So how compelling are those numbers? And I haven’t even mentioned October yet–the month in which he did his finest work of all.
Is it any surprise that Shaughnessy is considered a joke among most knowledgeable Red Sox fans?
