Comparing Curt Schilling to All Time Baseball Greats

Currently pitching for the Boston Red Sox. How does he currently rank vs. his peers and the all time greats?

Here is Schilling's record at the start of the 2007 season:

Lifetime record of 207-138. Good for a winning percentage of .600. The win total is currently good for a 96th place tie on the active list with Kenny Rogers, Bob Lemon, Carl Mays and Hal Newhouser. Both Lemon and Newhouser are in the Hall of Fame.

His K rate is 8.7, while his BB rate is just 2.0. That works out to a 4.4 K to BB ratio. Excellent. As those who have watched him in his career already know, Curt Schilling is an outstanding power pitcher with great control.

Career ERA of 3.44, which is just 79% of the League ERA over his career. A fine percentage bested only by twenty of the all time greats (retired), and equal to Hall of Famers Dazzy Vance and Stan Coveleski.

Curt Schilling has yet to win a Cy Young Award, but has finished 2nd in the voting three times. He has been an All Star six times.

He currently has 3,015 strikeouts, good for 14th place all time, just ahead of Pedro Martinez (2,998).

Schilling's post-season resume is impressive. In 9 series he has started 15 games and gone 8-2, with a 2.06 ERA. His teams have gone 7-2 in those series. Schilling has been just as impressive in the World Series, having gone 3-1 with a 2.11 ERA in 6 starts. His teams have gone 2-1 in the World Series. Schilling was co-MVP (Randy Johnson) of the 2001 World Series, when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in a 7 game thriller.

Leaving out Schilling's brief appearances in the major leagues prior to 1991, his lifetime record is 206-132 (.610). Over that time frame the teams he has pitched for have gone a combined 1345-1344 (.500). So Schilling has pitched .110 better than the teams he played for.

That is a number that has currently been bested by only seven pitchers in baseball history, Pedro Martinez (.146), Randy Johnson (.137), Roger Clemens (.124), Grover Cleveland Alexander and Sandy Koufax (both at .121), and Sal Maglie (.112). Jesse Tannehill is tied with Schilling at .110.

Curt Schilling is 40 years old this year, and looks like he will be playing for a contract in 2007, as he is on the last year of his current one with the Boston Red Sox. It's impossible to say for how many more years he will pitch, and what kind of stats he will put up. But to this point in his career, Curt Schilling has some very impressive career statistics that stamp him as one of the best pitchers in baseball's long history.