Phillies should remove Curt Schilling’s Wall of Fame plaque and cut ties with the former ace

Philadelphia is a weird city.

The same town that generally endorsed the removal of a Christopher Columbus statue because he was a genocidal maniac (makes sense, but he’s still there) and shrugged at the removal of a Kate Smith statue because she sang racist songs when everybody was singing racist songs (makes no sense, but she’s gone) does not seem at all bothered by a transphobic, Nazi-supporting religious bigot sitting in a place of honor in the most significant sports venue in town.

Curt Schilling, one of the franchise’s best pitchers, somehow still has a plaque on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame at Citizens Bank Park. He has one in Fenway Park. too. They should be removed. Take his advice: “Pull a trigger.”

Because Schilling’s back in the news. As usual, it’s for all the wrong reasons.

This time, Schilling stoked outrage by announcing on his podcast that former Red Sox teammate and current Boston announcer Tim Wakefield and his wife, Stacy, are each fighting a form of cancer.

» READ MORE: Former Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield dies at 57

The Wakefields were outraged at this invasion of their privacy. The Red Sox issued a statement in rebuke Thursday: “Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly without their permission. ... Their health is a deeply personal matter they intended to keep private as they navigate treatment and work to tackle this disease.”

For years, Schilling has been endured by former teammates who, generally, couldn’t care less about his post-baseball activities. Now that he’s hurt one of their tribe, it will be interesting to see how his former teammates respond. Catherine Varitek, the wife of Jason Varitek, who captained and caught Schilling in Boston, quickly and vulgarly chastised Schilling on X/Twitter.

Schilling justified this unspeakable betrayal of trust by citing his supposed religious devotion, calling for prayers for the Wakefields. Imagine if the clergy betrayed their parishioners’ confidence this way.

» READ MORE: How did the Phillies avoid the pitfalls that befell the Mets and other big-spending teams in 2023?

It’s been a big few days for Schill, a rabid collector of Nazi memorabilia who this week reposted an anti-Semitic take from X/Twitter citing the “Jewish Question” for which Hitler and the Nazis formulated their “Final Solution,” which, of course, was the genocide of Jews during World War II.

Notably, the Red Sox were more disturbed with the violation of trust than by the tacit endorsement of genocide, but maybe they, like so many of us, have fascism fatigue.

Because these, of course, aren’t Schilling’s first abhorrent behaviors.

He lost his job as an analyst at ESPN in 2016 after two such episodes. In 2015, he equated Muslim extremists with Nazi-era Germany. In 2016, he shared and commented on a Facebook post that targeted transgender people. Also in 2016 he quote-tweeted “Awesome” on a post of a man at a Donald Trump rally wearing a shirt with the words: “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.”

Since he was fired by ESPN, Schilling has made a living supporting Trump and some of his more controversial policies on various right-wing platforms, most recently on Outkick.com. Chief among them: Schilling has been a virulent advocate of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

His depravity continues unabated. In June, Schilling endorsed further insurrection when, on Fox News, he contended that “we’re getting back to a point where somebody’s going to have to pull a trigger” to unseat the sitting “tyrannical government.”

Why does this matter?

Because ignoring this sort of behavior implicitly condones it. It’s critical to call out abhorrent behavior and hate speech every time it surfaces, otherwise it becomes normalized. The Phillies seem to have no issue with Schilling’s boorish rhetoric.

Sad.

After contacting the Phillies on Friday, there is no evidence of any plan to remove his plaque or to exclude him from future events, despite his past and recent affirmations of what a horrible person he is. To the contrary, the Phillies invited and hosted Schilling at alumni weekend in August, same as they did in 2018, the 25th anniversary of the 1993 team that lost the World Series.

» READ MORE: John Middleton gives Matt Klentak credit for the Phillies’ development turnaround

Why won’t they cut ties?

Because they don’t want to offend Nazis who are Phillies fans?

Because they don’t care about their Jewish, transgender, or Muslim patrons — or, for that matter, their patrons with any sort of conscience — who are offended by Schilling’s antics?

Maybe, in the wake of the Wakefield incident, we’ve reached a tipping point. Schilling has now betrayed a teammate, but then, Schilling was always considered a bad teammate, although he has generally steered clear of this sort of self-serving abomination. For decades, he has proven himself to be a worse human than teammate; now, it’s a dead heat.

The Phillies are a family. They’re pretty good people in a pretty scummy industry. But they claim Schilling, so he is theirs, and his stink rubs off on them. Every moment his plaque sits in a place of honor, it dishonors the better human beings who surround him, and it dishonors all of the groups among the fans at whom he directs his hatred.

For profit. He does this stuff for a living. This is not occasional exuberance. This is his brand, on which he trades.

Schill’s abhorrent views cost him a place in Cooperstown. Writers like me kept Schilling out of the Hall of Fame, and the contemporary era committee agreed. You may disagree with our decisions, but there is a character clause. Clearly, he never met it. Clearly, he never will.

Sadly, the Phillies have no such clause.