USA Today Screengrab
(CNSNews.com) – Despite national headlines claiming former pitcher Curt Schilling believes “being a Republican kept him out of the Hall of Fame,” that’s not actually what he said.
Schilling touched upon his politics on the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show on Boston’s WEEI radio Wednesday, and was asked if he thought he would have received more votes if he was not so politically outspoken.
“When human beings do something, anything –there’s bias and prejudice. Listen, nine percent of the voters did not vote for Pedro (Martinez),” Schilling said.
“There’s something wrong with the process and something wrong with some of the people in the process when that happens.
I don’t think it kept me in – or anything like that- or kept me out – but I do know there are guys that probably won’t ever vote for me because of the things I said or did,” Schilling continued.
“Curt Schilling thinks he didn’t get into the HOF because he’s a Republican,” reads Thursday’s headline on Sports Illustrated website. “Curt Schilling thinks being a Republican kept him out of the Hall of Fame” is the banner on USAToday.com
Curt Schilling with George W. Bush (AP Photo)
“He flat out says, ‘I don’t think it kept me out’,” the Dennis and Callahan team said when discussing the coverage on Thursday morning. “That’s the definition of media bias, they want that to be true.”
The USA Today story quotes the former Red Sox star from the WEEI interview on why John Smoltz received more Hall of Fame votes instead of him, “I think he got in because of [Greg] Maddux and [Tom] Glavine. I think the fact that they won 14 straight pennants. I think his ‘Swiss army knife versatility,’ which somebody said yesterday, I think he got a lot of accolades for that, I think he got a lot of recognition for that. He’s a Hall of Famer,” Schilling said. “And I think the other big thing is that I think he’s a Democrat and so I know that, as a Republican, that there’s some people that really don’t like that.”
“This is out of context,” Dennis and Callahan said discussing the media coverage on Thursday’s program. “But it was clear that everybody thought he was kidding.”
Schilling has been public with his political beliefs, notably endorsing George W. Bush during his 2004 election against John Kerry.
