The Bloody Sock
There are certain things that red Sox fans throw up in the faces of Yankee fans during argument. One of the items on that list is the Curt Schilling’s Game 6 performance. The seven inning, four hit, one run masterpiece might not be enough had that been all there was to mention. But, as anyone who’s ever followed Major League Baseball has heard, Game 6 will forever be known as “The Bloody Sock Game”.
Curt Schilling was brought to the Red Sox because he was a Yankee killer. He and Randy Johnson had brought a World Series victory to expansion Arizona in 2001 at the expense of Jeter and the then thought of as unbeatable Bombers. When Schilling became a free agent, he was courted hard by the Red Sox front office. In the end, it was the lure of making history – bringing that elusive championship to a downtrodden Red Sox Nation – that helped make the decision.
In 2004, Schilling lead American League 21-6 record, posting a 3.26. He was second in the Cy Young vote, an All-Star, and at least in the conversation where league MVP was concerned. The season was just about everything that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein could have hoped for. But as the season drew to a close and the post-season began, Schilling began showing signs of wear. Namely a sore ankle that was causing some concern.
As it turned out, Schilling had a torn peroneal retinaculum, a sheath in his right foot that keeps a tendon in place as the foot flexes. Without the sheath, the tendon moves freely over the large ankle bone and can be painful as well as unstable. Schilling was a right-handed pitcher, meaning that his right foot was his plant or push-off foot. Instability in that ankle would have resulted in diminished power, but also might risk greater injury.
Before the game the loose tendon was sutured through the skin with a local anesthetic. The procedure, no sometimes called the Schilling Tendon Procedure, is a temporary fix. The sutures need to be removed as soon as the player is done playing. In many cases they are torn by that time, as well.
Perhaps the most enduring image of that series is the shot of Schilling’s hand coming down to adjust his shoe and the obvious blood seeping through the sutures and staining his sock. As side from the obvious courage and dedication that Schilling displayed playing hurt, the move met well with “Cowboy Up,” first baseman Kevin Millar’s rallying cry. Not to mention that there could hardly be a more dramatic notion that a member of the Red Sox who really had a red sock – red from blood.
The astounding significance of Schilling’s performance was made all the more wonderful for Sox fans by the subsequent attempts to belittle it made by Yankee fans and New York press. Accusations were flung that suggested the stain was paint or even ketchup! As the ESPN documentary “30 for 30: Four Days in October” pointed out, the fox camera’s were on Schilling incessantly in and out of the dugout. It seems unlikely that, had Fox Sports commentators Joe Buck or Tim McCarver noticed Schilling painting his sock (or adding condiments to it) they would have failed to mention it.
That sock resides in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. That 139 miles is probably not nearly far enough from Yankee Stadium to suit Yankee fans.
