Is Schilling a Slam Dunk for the Hall of Fame?

Curt Schilling officially announced his retirement last month at the age of 42 by saying, "This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the worlds best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official."

With that announcement Schilling ended months of speculation on whether he would pitch again despite the Cubs and Rays rumors. In the end, common sense ruled out and Schilling realized that given his age, the work involved for one more run simply wasn't worth it.

So now begins what will be the debate for the next three and a half years. Is Curt Schilling a Hall of Famer?

Schilling is retiring with 216 wins in his career. Above him are 79 pitchers. The pitchers with the fewest wins to be inducted are Jim Bunning and Catfish Hunter, both with 224 wins. Bunning was a strikeout king and perennial All Star who won his games despite never being on a playoff team. Hunter had a Cy Young Award to his name and five World Series titles on his resume. But there are many pitchers with more wins -- and even some with considerable playoff success -- who will never go to Cooperstown unless they buy a ticket. Does Schilling really deserve to go ahead of all of them?

Schilling will probably be remembered most for one of the most "heroic" performances of all time when he pitched in Game Six of 2004 ALCS in the famous "bloody sock" game. The game helped cement his legacy as one of toughest and best big game pitchers of all time, but is this enough to lead him to Cooperstown?

I think most baseball fans would agree that Curt Schilling was a special pitcher. Pretty much anybody who wins World Series games for three teams -- and three World Championship titles, is bound to be special. There is no denying that he played a big role in reversing the second-worst curse in baseball -- ending the "Curse of the Bambino".Or as perhaps the best post-season pitcher ever with a 2.23 ERA , 11 wins in 19 starts with 120 strikeouts in 133 innings pitched and a WHIP under 1.00. But while Schilling was postseason ace in a hitter's era, it may still be a bit of a stretch to suggest that he's going to be enshrined in Cooperstown someday.

All in all, Schilling had a fantastic career and achieved unbelievable successes, but if he failed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame he would hardly be the best pitcher to never be enshrined. I Sure, Schilling is Hall of Fame worthy, but is he more so than many of the pitchers who've never received their just considerations? Perhaps Shilling will be the best pitcher of our generation who doesn't get in - not counting steroid user Roger Clemens.

While baseball is a stats game, I feel that there should be other criteria used when determining if a player is worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. I guess the debate begins and ends with this. Will Schilling's really-good-but-not-great career post season dominance be strong enough to get him into the Hall of Fame?