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ESPN’s Stark will have Curt Schilling on his 2018 Hall of Fame ballot

Jan 19, 2017, 1:28 PM | Updated: 2:49 pm

Arizona Diamondbacks' Curt Schilling reacts during the fifth innning against the New York Yankees i...

Arizona Diamondbacks' Curt Schilling reacts during the fifth innning against the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2001 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

In his fifth year of eligibility, former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling received 45 percent of the Baseball Hall of Fame vote, well below the 75 percent mark required to be inducted.

But despite the trend, Jayson Stark of ESPN says that he’s going to vote for Schilling in 2018.

I’m not psychic enough to be able to forecast what Schilling will tweet between now and the next time we cast our ballots. But can we please agree already that it doesn’t matter? It has been 10 years since this man threw a pitch. We’re not electing him to the Hall of Twitter, so who cares what he crams into 140 characters? I just know what he crammed into a 20-year career:

The greatest strikeout/walk ratio of all time … eight different seasons finishing in the top five in WAR in his league … three Cy Young trophies he deserved to win, except that Randy Johnson and Johan Santana had historic seasons of their own to beat him … and an incredible October track record that should seal this vote (19 starts; he allowed two earned runs or fewer in 16 of them, his team won 14 of them, and he went 11-2 with a sub-1.00 WHIP).

From a purely numerical perspective, many argue that Schilling has a Hall of Fame resume.

When Schilling joined the Diamondbacks via a trade from the Philadelphia Phillies in 2000, he quickly became one of the team’s best players.

In his time in the Valley, Schilling went 58-28 with 875 strikeouts and a 3.14 ERA. More importantly, Schilling was co-World Series MVP of the 2001 D-backs team that won it all.

But Schilling’s career was far wider than his time with Arizona. His career stats speak for themselves, as he went 216-146 in his 20-year career, recorded a 3.46 career ERA and had 3,116 strikeouts, which is 15th in MLB history. He also led the MLB in wins in 2001 and 2004 and was the NL strikeout leader in 1997 and 1998.

Furthermore, the six-time MLB All-Star did plenty of winning in his career. Schilling played in three other World Series, losing with the Phillies in 1993 and winning two with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007, giving him a total of three championship rings.

That said, Schilling still has an uphill climb before he ends up in Cooperstown. The 45 percent of the vote he got in 2017 is respectable, but it was a lower total than what he received in the 2016 ballot when got 52.3 percent of the vote.

Schilling’s plethora of off-the-field controversies probably have not helped is Hall of Fame candidacy, so the voting results in the coming years should indicate whether or not he gets in by 2022, which is the last year of his eligibility.

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ESPN’s Stark will have Curt Schilling on his 2018 Hall of Fame ballot