The 40-Year-Old
Pitcher
After nearly two decades in the majors, six
All-Star Games, two World Series rings, and an MVP trophy, Curt
Schilling has conquered Major League Baseball. So what's left for
an encore? Even he doesn't know.
. Illustration by Todd Julie.
He wrote his legacy on a cold October night in the Bronx. Sporting
a bloody sock that will forever be tattooed on the heart of Red Sox
Nation, he willed himself through the most formidable lineup in
baseball and lifted a group of self-proclaimed idiots over the
"evil empire" of the New York Yankees. He was the missing piece,
the unifying cog in Boston's quest to end an 86-year baseball
curse.
Had Curt Schilling never set foot on the mound again, no one would
have blamed him. The six-time all-star had reached the pinnacle of
success for one of the most storied teams in professional sports.
The countless hours of rehab he faced in the off-season, the
lingering remnants from the most famous ankle injury in sports
history, and the struggle to regain his pitching form under the
constant scrutiny of the Boston media would have been enough to
make most players want to walk away. But Schilling does not define
himself by the status quo. He is driven to be great, obsessed with
perfecting his craft. And that is why, three years removed from
bringing a World Series victory to a city known for its almost
unhealthy devotion to its beloved baseball team, at 40 years old,
he is pressing on, playing his 19th year in Major League Baseball
and his fourth season as the ace on a Red Sox pitching staff loaded
with young talent.