Schilling Says So Long

[HT/AP]

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he's retiring from baseball.

The 42-year-old right-hander who won World Series championships with Arizona and Boston announced on his blog Monday that he's leaving after 23 years with "zero regrets."

Schilling missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. He had surgery last June and had said he might come back in the middle of this season. He made no reference to his injury on his blog, saying only he was very grateful.

Schilling won a World Series with Arizona in 2001 and with Boston in 2004 and 2007. For his career, he has the 14th most strikeouts in baseball history. He leaves with a 216-146 record and 3.46 ERA.

And here it is straight from the horses mouth from his own blog site:

Turn out the lights the party’s over” …
I used to wait with bated breath for Don Meredith to start singing that on Monday night football. Normally it was sweet music if the Steelers were playing.

If I could get him to sing it again I would. This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

To say I’ve been blessed would be like calling Refrigerator Perry ‘a bit overweight’. The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime.

Four World Series, three World Championships. That there are men with plaques in Cooperstown who never experienced one, and I was able to be on three teams over seven years that won it all is another ‘beyond my wildest dreams’ set of memories I’ll be allowed to take with me.

The game always gave me far more than I ever gave it. All of those things, every single one of those memories is enveloped with fan sights and sounds for me. Without the fans they would still be great memories, but none would be enduring and unforgettable because they infused the energy, rage, passion and ‘feel’ of all of those times. The game was here long before I was, and will be here long after I am gone. The only thing I hope I did was never put in question my love for the game, or my passion to be counted on when it mattered most. I did everything I could to win every time I was handed the ball.

I am and always will be more grateful than any of you could ever possibly know.
I want to offer two special thank you’s.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me the ability to step between the lines for 23 years and compete against the best players in the world.

To my wife Shonda and my four children, Gehrig, Gabriella, Grant and Garrison for sacrificing their lives and allowing baseball to be mine while I played. Without their unquestioned support I would not have been able to do what I did, or enjoy the life, and I am hopefully going to live long enough to repay them as much as a Father and Husband can.

Thank you and God Bless,
Curt Schilling

Photo Courtesy: AP