Curt Schilling was at his toughest when the pressure was greatest, as illustrated by the former Red Sox pitching ace’s .846 winning percentage in post-season play.
Now some have learned — the hard way — Schilling can be just as tough off the mound. At least when it comes to his daughter.
It started last week, when Schilling tweeted congratulations to his daughter Gabby, who was headed to Salve Regina University on a softball scholarship.
It elicited much response — including requests for his daughter’s phone number, etc.
But some responses included references to “rape, bloody underwear and pretty much every other vulgar and defiling word.” As a man who’s spent his life in locker rooms, Schilling says these comments were well beyond the dumb guy talk he’s used to hearing.
He also admits his first inclination was to inflict some bodily damage.
But in a move worthy of Mel Gibson in “Ransom” — whose character responds to the kidnappers’ demand of $2 million for the return of his son by publicly putting a $4 million bounty on the kidnappers — Schilling turned the Internet against them.
Using public information, Schilling said he uncovered the identities of the trolls. He then forwarded the disgusting things they tweeted to their principals, their schools and their coaches (many were jocks).
In short, he turned the tables by replacing their anonymity with notoriety.
It’s far from over, but Schilling has already got results. One creep has lost a part-time job with the Yankees.
Another faces discipline from Brookdale Community College. Schilling also reports he heard from some who’d been suspended by their coaches: “Gone was the tough guy tweeter, replaced by the ‘I’m so sorry’ apology used by those only sorry because they got caught.”
Good for this dad, who stood up for his daughter, refused to be rendered helpless by new technology and struck an old-fashioned blow for civility.
Though professionally he was a pitcher, we’d say Curt Schilling hit this one out of the park.