Dbacks Have Schilling's Back

"RJ, who is a man of few words, said the difference in ST this year is "Curt's gone" "We can't bring him back" and "it's quieter now."

3.23.04: I have never heard or read anything any DBacks player ever said on or off the record derogatory towards Schilling to anyone in the Phx. media. To the contrary, they all praised his hard work ethic and extreme preparation and willingness to take younger pitchers like Brandon Webb and Brian Anderson under his wing and show them how he prepares. In fact, I remember Reggie Sanders once said seeing Curt work so hard to get every batter out made the team work harder to get him runs.

The 3 stars of the 2001 WS Championship team were Curt, Randy and Gonzo. RJ and Gonzo's contracts were up for renewal a year or two before Schillings, and they got the extensions and big bucks. But the team still owed more big money to Matt Williams and Grace, etc. Williams refused to be traded so he was released but still got his 10 mil salary to stay home. To keep the team going financially they had to bring in new investors who demanded that starting with 2004 (and beyond) the budgets must be slashed way back.

Thus, thru no fault of his own, Schilling was the odd man out with no contract extension to assure he would end his career here. This would be understandably disappointing and stressful. Because he and his wife still had a home and ties to Philly, there were some rumors last summer that behind the scenes he was trying to get the Phillies to trade for him so he could get an extension to finish his career there. The only hint of any negativity from teammates was a rumor that some of his DBack teammates resented this so called lobbying to go back to Philly, so they hung a Phillies uni in his locker once last summer. This was never substantiated by anyone.

Curt has said many times that he is comfortable with himself and his opinions, but admits he sometimes says stupid things in his willingness to give an honest answer. He is also an interviewer's dream because he gives articulate extensive answers beyond the re-tread jock speak phrases and basic yes and no replies, so the media seek him out. Joe Garagiola Jr. (DBack's GM) said "Curt probably has never has had an unspoken thought." RJ, who is a man of few words, said the difference in ST this year is "Curt's gone" "We can't bring him back" and "it's quieter now." Except for the days he pitched, when he was all business, Schilling was always described as a chatty, fun loving extrovert in the clubhouse. Being human, I am sure he might have rubbed a few players the wrong way once in awhile, but I think it was mainly due to their own jealousy. After all, he was a superstar here, and was always sought after by the media and fans, much like he is now with the Sox faithful.
 - Pat/AZCurtFan on redsoxnation.net

(But is the nameless accusation baseless?)

Gordon Edes, Notes, Boston Sunday Globe, 3.21.04 -- No one who knows Curt Schilling is the least bit surprised that he would find himself in the middle of the steroid controversy. Not because anyone ever suspected him of using supplements -- he's the first to make self-deprecating jokes about his body -- but because he is constitutionally incapable of remaining silent on any subject worthy of his attention.

His reputation for outspokenness was well known in the Red Sox clubhouse even before he arrived here. One Sox veteran, who expressed surprise at how Schilling had so much to say this winter, before he'd thrown a pitch in Boston, said that during labor negotiations two years ago, Schilling made comments some Sox players interpreted as selfish, when he implied he didn't want a possible work stoppage to jeopardize his chances of winning a Cy Young Award. "There were some ticked off guys in here," the player said. "I was kind of glad Schilling lost a few games after that and fell out of contention."

Schilling admits that he has tested the patience of management and teammates in the past, and there have been times he has said some "stupid stuff."

But he also likes to believe that over time, his judgments have been tempered by experience and greater insight. And reporters, knowing that Schilling usually will give a direct answer to a question, figured his locker was a place to stop to talk about steroids.

He was asked last week if he knew first-hand of players who had used steroids.

"Not anymore, no," he said. "I've played with guys, oh yeah. I've talked to guys. I've discussed it with different people. Not many people, and the ones I discussed it with had stopped.

"For whatever reason, this thing has taken on an incredible life of its own, obviously starting with the [Ken] Caminiti and [Jose] Canseco thing [both former players charged that large numbers of players were using steroids]. Everybody was knee-jerking out of that, including me saying I'm sure [the number of steroid users] was 25 percent or whatever. I really had no idea. Who have I played with that I know for a fact [used steroids]? A couple of guys in 15 years.

"Like everybody else, I suspected a lot of people, but that's exactly what it is, suspicion, which means nothing. There are guys I know who people have suspected, and I know for a fact they weren't using. They just put in time and effort to be what they are, and they're the ones paying the ultimate price right now."

One name that has surfaced in speculation is that of Schilling's former Arizona teammate Luis Gonzalez, because Gonzalez, who had never hit more than 31 home runs in a season, hit 57 three years ago for the Diamondbacks.

"Luis, that amazes me," Schilling said of people linking Gonzalez's name to steroids. "That's one guy, no way. I heard Nomar [Garciaparra]'s name, which just floored me. I've been around the guy. I've seen the effort, I've seen the work, I've seen the intensity and passion for the job. But again, I don't know. I just know what I feel and what I think. That doesn't make me right; that's just my opinion."

Schilling is militant on the subject of privacy safeguards for drug testing, as well as the inherent risks of a procedure that could prove ruinous to a player's career, even if the test proved to be a false positive. - Not curt, outspoken

Pedro Martinez

Courtesy of Curt Schilling; the following SoSH web posting is for online fan communication and not for attribution for publication, reprint, or broadcast by the media.

3.18.04 -- Anyway. No doubt you've been reading the daily reports on the steroid front, and I seem to have fallen smack dab into the middle of this fracas unfortunately.

The comments you've read, attributed to me, are not misquotes, but I don't think I made the point I was intending to make when I answered the questions I was asked.

I don't envision a scenario wherein Mr. Lucchino and Mr. Henry are standing in their lab coats, splitting urine samples and running an independent set of drug tests. Nor did I intend my "I don't trust them to run it" comment to be an all inclusive accusation. From everything I have heard, and the initial impressions I have gotten, Mr. Henry is a man of impeccable integrity, which would explain his success in his field of work also.

I know the owners aren't going to be "doing" the actual drug testing, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that I didn't trust Mr. Selig and the Owners to implement a process based on the knee jerk reactions we are now seeing.

Understand this, from a players standpoint, and not just any player but a player that will unfortunately NEVER be accused of using steroids in any case, there will be NO FALSE POSITIVES.

If you are indeed dead set on a firmer, much more stringent application of drug testing, I am ok with that, but the process must be one where every single leaf is turned up, every single scenario envisioned, and every possibility explored because IF you test positive, false or not, you're career is pretty much over. Now I understand you're career is not really "over", but for all intents and purposes you are done. If you are a guy that legitimately has worked his ass off you are gonna see your life's work, and career flushed down the toilet, regardless of any "retraction" or follow up clearance that may occur.

As a member of the union it's part of my responsibility to make sure that can't happen, to anyone.

The main problem, IMO, from where I sit today is that it's just not as simple as everyone would like it to be.

To change the CBA contents regarding the drug testing would be opening up a can of worms I don't want to see opened. As a player rep I have been privy to negotiating sessions during the off season, lockouts and strikes. The owners of this game aren't stupid, they didn't make their money doing bad business deals. As stupid as it may sound to some, if we were to agree to reopen the CBA and change terms already agreed upon, that would be setting a horrible precedent IMO, one that I would bet my house on would be exploited in the future.

Ok, so I play commissioner for a day, again.

Here is what I would like to see happen.

30 day period starts the process.

During that 30 day period every player in MLB would be asked to submit any and every supplement they are taking. Those supplements would all be tested. Players would be notified of any supplements they are currently taking that contain anything that might show up as "positive" on a drug test.

See a lot of the companies we work with are not FDA controlled, approved. There are companies that do in fact distribute supplements that contain more than what's on the label. It's ultimately my responsibility to know what I am putting in my body, but up until now I never questioned the content of anything the company I work with put into my vitamins. I work with a company called Vitacube out of Colorado. I know they are now very big in the NFL due to the strict nature of their testing policy, so I chose them for the product and their track record. Come to find out that not all companies do this.

I think this process should precede any testing of any kind. Then players would be subject to drug testing for the pre-determined list of banned substances, like we do now, and the NFL does.

As is the case now, anyone showing up positive would be subject to an immediate follow up test to confirm the first test.

This area here is the one I am concerned with most, but know the least. How accurate are these tests? 98%? 90%? Either of those numbers doesn't work for me. I don't know the math but what are the probabilities of falsely failing 2 consecutive tests presumed to be 99% correct?

What you do from here is really something I am not real concerned about, beyond the fact that you should be punished at this point. Anyone stupid enough to fail a drug test to begin with, much less now given everything that's happened, should get hammered.

Long ramble, sorry about that, but I hope you understand that it's just not that easy, even though it appears to be.

I want people that are taking performance enhancing drugs punished, and if they fail to fix it, eliminated from the game. I don't want the era I played the game in to be tainted because a few idiots couldn't do it by the rules. But I also don't want ONE GUY to be falsely accused and have his career relegated to obscurity because the public witch hunt forced people to implement a program that didn't cover all it's bases. - 3.18 SoSHilling: There is no such thing as a "False Positive"