Last updated: April 17, 2004
Curt's comments about the rivalry with the Yanks from an April 17,2004 article by Ian Browne of MLB.com
(Photo courtesy of Chitose Suzuki-AP).
"One of the reasons, sure. The first one was to try and help [the Red Sox] win a World Series," Schilling said. "A close second was to be a part of this, to be a part of the energy and the atmosphere this series brings."
"The external stimulants that come playing for this franchise and in this series are a positive, something I'm going to be able to use to work for me," said Schilling."
"It's just different. It's just so different than anything I've ever been involved in," said Schilling. "In my mind that's a good thing. This is a kind of series where you want to go and you want to do well because everybody's watching."
Curt's comments from a November 29, 2003 article by Ian Browne of MLB.com
"I want to be part of bringing the first World Series in modern history to Boston. And hopefully more than one over the next four years. I'm very aware of the history of this franchise as it pertains to the history of baseball."
"I want to go out like Roger went out.
I want to go out with four healthy seasons and throwing the ball as hard as I can throw it and being a dominating pitcher."
"I fully expect to be in the best shape of my life (in 2004).
To that extent, The Red Sox are going to fly someone to Phoenix over the next week to go over some nutrition training and weight training stuff I want to incorporate into the next few years of my career."
"We played poorly and we didn't deserve to [win]," Schilling said of the club's performance on the homestand. "We're four games out now. It is what it is. It [the clubhouse mood] had better be anger. There'd better be some [ticked]-off people. We played like [garbage] for 13 days and we continue to play like [garbage] and we show no signs of getting any better. I don't know what it's going to take other than we need to run a string off and we have to prove we can do that."
-Curt's comments after losing to the San Francisco Giants on September 1, 2003.
"The bottom line is this -- Friday we could be a game out of the Wild Card," said Schilling, who fell to 7-8 on the season. "There's 29 games left and of all the Wild Card race, we're the only team that can lay claim to being World Champions. So if we have an ounce of pride in us, we'll figure it out. And if we don't, we'll fade away with the rest of them. I believe in this group. Somehow, some way we've got to find a way to get it done over the next 29 games."
-Curt's comments after losing to the San Diego Padres on August 27, 2003.
"He's never far away when I'm in situations like this. He'd be laughing that this is happening to me, and he'd be pretty fired up."
-Curt talking about his deceased father in regards to Curt being Co-MVP of the 2001 World Series.
"Mystique and aura? Those are dancers at a nightclub."
-Curt talking about facing the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the 2001 World Series.
"I talked to my dad before the game, and he was able to put my mind at ease about this situation. It was a very personal thing."
-Curt in reference to Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.
"Growing up, I hated the Yankees," Schilling said. "But I have enormous respect for their history and what they've meant to baseball. Nothing could be more meaningful than to beat the Yankees in the World Series."
-Curt in reference to playing the Yankees in the 2001 World Series.
"If the Lord had sat me down in January of this year and asked me to script out a dream season, I couldn't have come up with this," Schilling said. "Game 7 against Roger Clemens, with everything that's happened, the way the year has gone for my family, the way the year has done for this team."What Roger did for me and has done for me throughout my career, I couldn't have dreamt this. I'm not that big of a dreamer."
-Curt in reference to pitching against Roger Clemens and the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series
"My first game that I ever saw professionally was Roberto Clemente's final game, where he got his 3,000th hit, and the only time I saw my father cry in my lifetime was the day Roberto died," he told The Arizona Republic. "The things my father passed on to me about Mr. Clemente as a person meant more to me than his Hall of Fame status as a ballplayer."
-Curt in reference to winning the Roberto Clemente Award in 2001. Photo courtesy of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Guys like to see stuff. That's what it is--it's about stuff!...I've never sold a piece. I never will sell a piece. This stuff will go to my son and my families."
-Curt talking about his Boys of Summer Basement baseball memorabilia collection.
"I thought it was so cool that among 50,000 fans, there was one empty seat in the ballpark during the seventh game of the World Series last year, and it belonged to my dad. His memory and his impact on my life are always with me."
-Curt in reference to Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.
"I was pretty choked up, actually," he said. "I had to stop throwing for a few minutes in the bullpen when I saw it. It was pretty awesome."
-Curt in reference to watching his oldest son, Gehrig, accept his World Championship ring at the start of the 2002 season.
�My life revolves around my family, and that�s a good thing.�
-Curt's thoughts on the importance of his family.
"I looked at the game tremendously different," Schilling said. "Over the years I've incorporated a lot of what he said about how I approach this job, and this life, and my family, and my respect for the game."
-Curt's thoughts about the impact of his talk with Roger Clemens back in 1992.
"He felt at that time that I was someone who was not taking advantage of the gifts that God had given me, that I didn't respect the game the way I should; that I didn't respect my teammates the way I should. What I thought was going to be kind of a sit-down talk about pitching experience turned out to be an hour-and-a-half butt-chewing from the guy who was in the midst of winning (six) Cy Youngs. I began to turn a corner at that point in my career, both on and off the field. It took time, but no question that it had a huge, huge impact on me."
(Photo courtesy of AP).
"It's like a paint-off against Picasso."
-Curt on facing Roger Clemens for Game 7 of the World Series.
"And if I leave a legacy one-tenth of the one Fred Hutchinson left, I'll have done what I was put on this earth to do."
-Curt after receiving the 2001 Hutch Award.
"I get a rush out of going up against guys like (Maddux) and teams like this, because no one expects you to do well. And that's the time when you enjoy exceeding peoples' expectations."
-Curt after dominating the Atlanta Braves and Greg Maddux on August 17, 2003.
"I go out there 35 starts a year thinking I'm going to throw a complete game."--
Curt said during the 2001 National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves.
"Control is the ability to throw strikes and in the big leagues everybody has control," he said. "Command is the ability to throw quality strikes. When you add preparation to command good things happen."
-Curt's view on pitching.
I take a lot of pride in what I do," he said. "Because people write and report that as you get older you're not supposed to do better. I've never bought into that. I believe in what I'm doing. I believe I have an approach that works.
-Curt's thoughts on getting older.
"I think by getting the awards, people are telling me I've made a difference in people's lives in a positive way. I'm not sure you were put on earth for any reason but that."
-Curt's thoughts on his community service efforts.
"I don't need my wife to be diagnosed with cancer to have perspective. People with ALS have been giving us perspective for the last decade."
-Curt's thoughts on people with Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"Charles Barkley said we're not role models," Schilling says. "I agree with that, but I think he stopped short. I don't think we are role models. But I do think we have a responsibility. And I think each individual has to pick and choose to whom that responsibility is outside of your home."
-Curt's thoughts on being a role model.
"I know I'm not the friendliest guy on the days I pitch," says Schilling. "There's not a whole lot anyone can say to me that will help me win that day, so I like to keep to myself."
-Curt's thoughts about the day that he pitches. (Photo courtesy of Paul Connors-AP).
