The famous sock on display in
Cooperstown
On Wednesday night Curt Schilling torched the Orioles en route to a 6-1 Red Sox victory, but that wasn’t the only story of the evening. That’s because the play-by-play voice for Baltimore Gary Thorne started yapping about Shilling’s bloody sock that he made famous during Game 6 of the 04 ALCS against the dreaded Yankees, and claimed that he was told by Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli that the sock was actually painted to give a dramatic effect to the game.
The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking,” Thorne said to broadcast partner Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher, in a conversation that had begun with a discussion of Schilling’s blog.
“Nah,” Thorne said. “It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count.”
Palmer: “Yeah, that was the 2004 World Series [sic].” Thorne: “Yeah.”
During a break two innings later, Thorne confirmed that’s what he said, and that Mirabelli had told him so in a conversation “a couple of years ago.”
“Go ask him [Mirabelli],” Thorne said.
Mirabelli was shocked, then angry, when relayed Thorne’s comments.
“What? Are you kidding me? He’s [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli said. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.
Now, this isn’t the first time that Schill has been accused of not bloodying the sock personally, but this is the first time that the source was linked personally to the pitcher. Not that any of this really matters, regardless of whether it was blood, paint, ink or anything else, all that matters is that Schilling put on a show that night and carried his team to victory in dramatic fashion. Just ask the Theo Epstein.
You’re kidding me, right?” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail last night. “I’m the GM of the team, not Jerry Springer. I couldn’t give two [expletives] about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game.
It is pretty stupid to still be talking about a damn sock three years after the fact. It’s time to move past all this nonsense and focus on something that is far more pressing subject matter. To be specific, was the 1985 NBA draft lottery fixed?
Links:
[Boston.com]: Bloody mess
