the sock is in the hall of fame and that's as close as Schilling should get. Pedro, Randy Johnson, Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Clemens are all first balloters - and that says nothing of the relievers from the same generation that are sure things. He's like a Dave Steib that was on better teams.

He's like a Dave Stieb that was on better teams.

That's not quite true. Until he was 33 years old, Schilling had been in the rotation for exactly one team that won more games than they lost (the 1993 Phillies). He actually played for more 90 game losers than Stieb did.

I think he's eminently qualified. His counting numbers are fine: he cracks the 200 win barrier, he cracks 3000 Ks (with fewer than 1000 BB, which is remarkable); at his peak (2001-2004) he was about as good a pitcher as there was in the game. And he's one of the greatest post-season pitchers in history, him and Christy Mathewson and Bob Gibson.

And he certainly has the Fame part covered.

And he's one of the greatest post-season pitchers in history, him and Christy Mathewson and Bob Gibson.

That Beckett kid in Boston also deserves to be in the conversation. But I don't see anybody repeating Mathewson's performance in the 1905 World Series when he tossed 3 shutouts.

As for Schilling, he deserves to be in the Hall. The bloody sock was his ticket. On the bright side, Curt has a lot more time to work on his MMO game now.

But I don't see anybody repeating Mathewson's performance in the 1905 World Series when he tossed 3 shutouts.

It's always possible, I suppose. But I sure don't see anyone surpassing it.

I simply disagree - since when is 200 wins considered Hall-worthy? is Mike Mussina a hall of famer? Putting that aside - Schilling has precisely zero Cy Young awards, and he was never dominant - he had some dominant years but he was never the guy - so I don't think he fits the Pedro/Koufax mould.
He is all 'fame' thanks mostly to the legend of the sock - the authenticity of which has been questioned; that and the fact that he has been good in the playoffs. His comps on Baseball Reference include David Cone and John Smoltz, but he is closest to Kevin Brown. I just don't think the numbers bare out the myth. I think he's borderline at best - and there are a lot of guys I'd put ahead of him in a heartbeat.

since when is 200 wins considered Hall-worthy?

I certainly don't think it's a guarantee - I think its the minimum necessary for a starter to get into the conversation.  (Koufax and Dean are the only starters to make it with fewer than 200.) Schilling's obviously better than some of the guys who are in there already, not that that is, or should be, how these things are decided. But I think he's in like Drysdale is in- he cleared 200 wins, and he did enough other really impressive stuff to make up for not getting to, say, 250.

If he's done, I'll miss him. As irritating and obnoxious as he sometimes was, as big a blowhard as he could be - he was certainly not another one-automatic-cliche-after-another pro. Never a dull moment.

Schilling has, by far, the lowest unearned runs of any pitcher with his number of innings.

I don't know what it means, but it seems like it should mean something.

he was never dominant - he had some dominant years

I don't understand - how is that not being dominant?

But he was obviously a dominant pitcher. He was one of the two or three best pitchers in the game at his peak, which was about a five year run, which is generally what elite pitchers do. So was Stieb, but the rest of Schilling's career is much better (not that the rest of Stieb's career was chopped liver.)  Schilling did manage to win 20 games three times (Stieb topped out at 18) - Hall voters will like that. He also struck out 300 hitters in a season three times (Stieb never made it to 200), which is sort of dominating, and should also impress the voters. It's a feat that is matched by Koufax and beaten by Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, and No-One Else. (He was obviously better than Ryan, of course.) Anyway, just how good do you need to be?

Here's what I said in 2005. Since then, Schilling has added 1 and 1/2 very good seasons.  He's an easy Hall of Famer, in my book.  Maddux, Clemens, Unit, Pedro, Glavine, Smoltz and Schilling should all go in easily. Mike Mussina should probably go, as well.  We  have lived through an age of great starting pitchers.

I don't know if Schilling is easily better than Ryan...Ryan did pick up an extra 2125 innings, assuming Schilling is done, and Ryan certainly had his spine-tingling moments - no hitter #7 is one of my favourite memories of any baseball game, ever. Ryan was no slouch in the postseason either, if not legendary. But I digress, because Schilling, despite being an self-promoting annoyance increasingly over the years,  seems pretty clearly to be at a HoF level to me. Just because he's not one of the best 20-30 starters ever like some of his contemporaries (Maddux, Clemens, Martinez, Johnson) doesn't mean he's not a worthy pick. The post-season heroics (sock and non-sock related) are certainly what push him over the edge though, because otherwise he was little better than Kevin Brown, who in my head is basically the perfect example of a "not quite good enough" career. Schilling: 216-146, ERA+ 127, 3261 IP. Brown: 211-144, ERA+ 127, 3256 IP. Hmmm...maybe I need to reconsider Brown?

. Hmmm...maybe I need to reconsider

Brown is going to be an interesting one.  I never think of him instinctively as a HoF player, but his numbers seem to stack up pretty well with other guys that are likely going in.  For instance, at first glance, they're not too different than Smoltz's numbers.

There are two differences between Brown and Schilling/Smoltz:

1. the post-season, and
2. Brown's late career rush possibly correlated with PED use.

Might as well provide Schilling's own take:

The game was here for well over a hundred years before I came along, and will be for that and more after I am gone, it owes Curt Schilling absolutely nothing, it gave me far more than I ever gave it.

If this was my last shot, and it is over, I wouldn’t change a thing (ok well that’s not totally true because I WOULD push rewind, go back to a few instances and shut my mouth, but hey we can’t all be perfect) that happened to me, with me or on any teams I played on. In 22 years I would say I had the honor of playing with some of the greatest of all time, and at most 3-4 really bad people, that’s not a bad thing.

Schilling's blog was almost always worth checking out simply because the man has never been shy about speaking his mind.

No one should miss his one of latest entries, which is almost Magpie-like in its lengthiness I might add: Manny, JD, Papi, Lester and the NBA Finals. It did of course land him in a bit of trouble with Lakers fans ("..what I got to see up close and hear, was unexpected. From the first tip until about 4 minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy [Kobe!] bitch at his teammates.")

One thing I did learn was that in addition to not having one ounce of athletic ability, being white, and having no vertical, and only being able to dribble right handed, I couldn’t play in the NBA because about 43 times last night I heard things being said that would have made me swing at someone. These guys talk MAJOR trash on the floor...

Anyway, the whole piece is a genuinely interesting view from courtside, from a professional athlete who'll tell you exactly what he thinks. How often do we get that, anyway?