Yankees legend Reggie Jackson took aim at Curt Schilling this week.
Curt Schilling has been the talk of the baseball world for a few days now after the Hall of Fame results came in on Tuesday. Though Schilling led all candidates with over 71% of the vote, he fell short yet again and has only one year of eligibility remaining.
Why is this a big deal? Because of Schilling’s commentary on social media. People will say it’s because of his “political views” or the fact he “supported President Trump” or the fact that he’s “conservative,” but many seem to be forgetting the long history of “conservative” ballplayers that made the Hall without a single obstacle in their way.
The controversy surrounding Schilling has to do with his hateful rhetoric, misguided/short-sighted viewpoints, and his troubling behavior on social media. Need someone else to convince you of this? Well, here’s New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson for ya.
Here’s what Jackson told NJ.com:
"“I would say to Curt, ‘Look at what you did. You took yourself out of the Hall of Fame because of what you say and how to express yourself and how you think.’ Freedom of speech is great, but we can’t have a country with white supremacy, Nazis, Black Panthers, racist stuff and anti-Semitics. We can’t have people wearing swastikas because it’s a freedom of expression. Come on!“Freedom of speech got you freed out of the Hall of Fame. Freedom of speech got your a-s out of Cooperstown, bro!“I don’t care if Schilling is conservative or not conservative. That doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he’s stepping out on the balcony and yelling out something to defame Jews or Muslims or any other ethnicity or gender. Curt, get away from here with that.”"
Oh man. That is heavy stuff. A blatant call-out that should get Schilling to listen, but he won’t.
Jackson would be the perfect guy to receive some guidance from, too. As an African-American who began his professional career in the 1960s, there’s some darn good perspective to understand there.
A lot of famous people in the baseball world have largely remained quiet on this topic. Given Yankees’ fans hatred for Schilling, it’s comforting to see one of our own blast the fake-bloody sock man when nobody else really will.
Schilling’s all about rebuttals too, but you’ll be hard-pressed to see him dish one back at the fiery Jackson.
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