Phils Add Schilling to Wall of Fame

Curt Schilling always had a knack for pitching in big games, and the earliest clutch chances he had came in a Phillies uniform.

On Friday, Schilling was remembered for his eight-plus seasons in red pinstripes, becoming the newest member of the Phillies Wall of Fame. He was honored prior to Friday night’s game in a ceremony that featured other Wall of Fame members, including Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Darren Daulton.

“Those guys weren’t some of the best Phillies ever, they’re some of the best players in the history of the game,” Schilling said.

Schilling, whose last season in Philadelphia was in 2000, said it is a huge honor to have his place in the team’s history preserved. He won 16 games for the 1993 team, which captured the National League pennant, and had back-to-back 300-strikeout seasons in 1996 and 1997.

He went on to win three World Series rings (one with Arizona, two with Boston) in a 20-year career. Though he had a dicey end to his Phillies career, asking out of Philadelphia in 2000, he received a warm welcome on Friday.

“I think I was one of [the media’s] favorite players when I played here because I didn’t have the ability to keep my mouth shut,” Schilling said. “I said a lot of dumb things and made a lot of mistakes. But I think, at the end of the day, I took the ball every five days and left it all out there. I think that’s ultimately what the fans show up to see, all fluff aside.”

Schilling compiled 216 wins, a 3.46 ERA and 3,116 strikeouts in his Major League career, and some of his best work came in the postseason. He has a 2.23 ERA in the playoffs, and he went eight or more innings in three of his four postseason outings in 1993.

Now an analyst for ESPN, Schilling last pitched in 2007, for the Red Sox. He was eligible for election to the Hall of Fame this year for the first time, but missed the cut with 38.8 percent of the vote. He does not think “one iota” about his chances of getting into Cooperstown.

“I’m done playing. I can’t do anything else,” he said. “I’m not going to strike anybody out, I’m not going to win any more games.”

Stephen Pianovich is an associate reporter for MLB.com.