Curt Schilling will reportedly not attend Red Sox ceremony for 2004 champions at home opener
The ceremony will also honor the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield.
When the Red Sox honor the iconic 2004 World Series championship team at Fenway Park ahead of the 2024 home opener against the Orioles on April 9, one of its main stars won’t be in attendance.
Curt Schilling, whose bloody sock became a famous symbol of Boston’s resilience amid the miraculous American League Championship Series comeback against the Yankees that season, has turned down the invitation to be at the pregame ceremony, according to Dan Shaughessy of The Boston Globe.
The plans to celebrate the 2004 team were revealed by the Red Sox on Monday. The event will also honor the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield. Tim, a longtime pitcher for the Red Sox (and member of the 2004 team) died in October from brain cancer. His wife, Stacy, passed away in February from pancreatic cancer.
Schilling’s relationship with the team, its fanbase, and his fellow former players may have been strained following his decision to reveal health news about the Wakefields during an episode of his podcast several days before Tim’s death.
The Red Sox issued a statement on behalf of the Wakefields shortly afterward noting that, “Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly without their permission.”
Since retiring in 2009, Schilling has been a controversial figure. He was at first suspended — and later fired — from a baseball analyst role at ESPN for making multiple offensive social media posts.
In 2021, he requested that his name be taken off Baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot, blaming what he saw as prejudiced media in a lengthy Facebook post. His name remained on the ballot, but he fell 16 votes short. His 10-year eligibility for Hall of Fame voting ended after not making it again in 2022 (though he could still be selected for induction by the Era Committee).
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