In a lot of ways, Curt Schilling is the Manny Ramirez of pitchers. Ramirez never won a league MVP award, which is a glaring hole on any elite baseball resume, and he alienated fans and Hall-of-Fame voters with his alleged PED use. Similarly, Schilling never won a Cy Young award, which leaves a glaring hole on any elite baseball resume, and he alienated fans and Hall-of-Fame voters with ignorant rhetoric. Neither are sympathetic figures, which leaves both historically underrated strictly from a production standpoint. Now, let’s not get it twisted. Any knowledgeable baseball fan knows that Schilling was a fantastic starting pitcher. However, just like Ramirez, it’s just how fantastic that seems to get lost in the noise.
The two most important traits a pitcher can have are limiting contact and avoiding walks. Schilling’s arsenal might have featured the best mix of both the league has ever seen. Schilling is the only pitcher since 1920 to pitch at least 3,000 innings with a K/BB ratio of at least 4.38. He led the league in strikeout to walk ratio five times, which is the most by any pitcher to debut since 1927. He’s the only pitcher in history with 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 715 walks. Schilling and Juan Marichal are the only two pitchers since 1920 with at least 215 career wins and fewer than 715 walks. What makes Schilling’s power/control mix so remarkable is that he was able to maintain it while also being one of the preeminent workhorses in Major League Baseball. He’s the last pitcher to throw back-to-back seasons of 250 innings, and he led the league in complete games four times. Since 1988, only Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux have more complete games. Perhaps most impressive is that he’s the last pitcher to have three seasons of at least 21 wins. In fact, he might be the last pitcher ever to accomplish that feat.
The comparison to Ramirez extends beyond the regular season. Schilling’s regular-season numbers are Hall of Fame-worthy on their own, but it’s the success he had in the postseason that makes him one of the most unique pitchers baseball has ever seen. In 133 and 1/3 career postseason innings, Schilling went 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and .97 WHIP, while winning three World Series titles in four appearances. He was named the 1993 NLCS MVP and 2001 World Series MVP. He holds the record for most innings pitched in a single postseason without a loss (48 and 1/3 in 2001). He is 56 strikeouts in the 2001 postseason are nine more than anyone else in history. He holds the record for Win Probability added in a single postseason (2.1 in 2001), and he has the highest postseason winning percentage among starting pitchers with at least 55 postseason innings. Schilling–like Ramirez–has given baseball fans and Hall-of Fame voters plenty of ammunition to look everywhere besides the back of his baseball card. For those who are strictly interested in on-field performance, Schilling is undoubtedly one of the greatest postseason pitchers in history, and one of the most accurate workhorses the league has ever seen.