In his candidacy for the Hall of Fame, Curt Schilling is his own worst enemy

On Friday at 1:25 p.m., after news of Hank Aaron’s death broke, former MLB pitcher and Hall of Fame candidate Curt Schilling posted his thoughts on Twitter.

"Another legend is gone," Schilling posted on his verified account, @Gehrig38. "Along with Frank Robinson the most underhyped player to ever live. He was a pure HITTER who hit HRs. And he was a true gentleman. #RIPLegend"

Two minutes later, Schilling posted a statement about President Joe Biden:

"This hack got off to a great start huh? Killing over 50K jobs on day one without slobbering on the Resolute desk. (at least not on tv)"

Therein lies the issue for Hall of Fame voters when it comes to Schilling.

Schilling’s odious post-playing persona — and his extreme political views — are why it appears he will fall short of election to Cooperstown for the ninth consecutive year when results are announced on Tuesday night.

Schilling was one of the best pitchers of his generation, a big-game stud who led the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks and 2004 Red Sox to dramatic World Series triumphs. He also was a champion with the 2007 Red Sox. His career postseason record was 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts.

Schilling, who had a regular-season record of 216-146 with a 3.45 ERA and 3,116 strikeouts (15th all-time), is the only pitcher other than the PED-tainted Roger Clemens with more than 3,000 strikeouts who is not in the Hall of Fame.

On-field credentials alone would seem to make Schilling a shoo-in. Heck, his co-MVP (along with Randy Johnson) from the 2001 World Series and the "bloody sock" game against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS by themselves were Hall of Fame-worthy efforts.

But in his next-to-last year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, Schilling is expected to fall short of the 75% needed for induction.

As of Saturday morning, he had been named on 74.8% of publicly released ballots, according to indefatigable Hall of Fame tracker Ryan Thibodeaux. The trend for years has been that the percentage goes down once all ballots are counted. In 2020, Schilling was named on 73.7% of public ballots in the final tally before the vote was announced, but he finished at 70%.

Schilling’s post-playing days persona has been controversial, to say the least.

ESPN suspended him from the Little League World Series a few years ago because of a tweet in which he compared Muslim extremists to Nazi-era Germans. He later was fired by the network for Facebook comments about transgender people. He once commented positively about a post that supported the lynching of journalists.

A staunch supporter of former President Trump, Schilling until Saturday called himself "President-Elect Curt Schilling" on his Twitter feed. That is a jab many Trump supporters made at what they felt was a rush to call Biden the President-elect after the November election, a stance supported by the former President in his unsuccessful attempt to overturn the election results.

Hall of Fame ballots had to be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2020. Voters were not able to consider the incendiary and racist comment Schilling made on Jan. 6 on Twitter that seemed supportive of the U.S. Capitol rioters.

He posted this at 11:52 p.m. on the day of the riots: "You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for air Jordan’s and big screens, sit back, [expletive], and watch folks start a confrontation for [expletive] that matters like rights, democracy and the end of govt corruption. #itshappening."

A story made the rounds this past week that "numerous" voters reached out to the Hall of Fame to see if they could change their yes votes on Schilling because of his Jan. 6 Twitter post. Jon Heyman of MLB Network debunked that viral story, reporting than only one voter had reached out — and was told ballots cannot be changed once submitted.

The Hall of Fame includes what has come to be known as "the character clause" on instructions it sends to voters. The Hall instructs voters to take into account "the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

Some voters do consider the hard-to-define concept of "character," which is why Clemens and Barry Bonds are not in the Hall. But some believe it’s appropriate to consider only a player’s on-field actions.

Five of six Newsday staffers who are voters included Schilling on their ballots.

Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in a column explaining his vote for Schilling, wrote: "I chose not to hold Schilling’s words against him. His shared statements, no matter their political flavor or perceived distaste, are protected by the First Amendment."

But Mark Faller, sports editor of the Arizona Republic, wrote of his decision to not vote for Schilling: "If he ever deserved this honor, he lost it by his own words and actions. He does not deserve to be on that podium in July."

On Jan. 19, after Hall of Famer Don Sutton died, Schilling posted: "When I reflect on my career and think of the men baseball brought into my life, good, true men, men who helped make me, Don Sutton will always be at the top of that list. Cherish the fact I got to know the man, the legend. God Rest your soul my friend."

One commenter wrote to Schilling: "Great tweet. You should act more like this."

Schilling did not heed that advice.

Less than five hours later — a little more than 12 hours before Biden was sworn in as Trump’s successor — Schilling’s next post began: "True evil and corruption enters the (White House) tomorrow."

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.