Reactions Coming from All Sides

With news of Schilling’s possible senate bid emerging yesterday, it provoked reactions from people in all walks of life.

A few members of the Boston Red Sox spoke to the Boston Globe:

”He would be good at filibustering,’’ wrote Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein in a text message.Asked what he would bring to the Senate, Dustin Pedroia said, “A big appetite.’’ It was a funny comment, considering Schilling had said in a NECN interview earlier in the day that he had a “full plate’’ in his private life right now. Not to mention the weight clause in his final contract with the Sox, which prompted this response from a Sox personnel member: “He’d have to lose a few pounds to go on TV, wouldn’t he?’’

While an aide to Massachusetts Republican mainstay, Mitt Romney, spoke to the L.A. Times:

Charley Manning, a political strategist and friend of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said news of Schilling’s interest in the seat was creating a lot of buzz among Republicans. “I think it’s the most exciting part of the Senate race so far,’’ he said.Of course, being a popular baseball pitcher does not a great senator make. Just ask Jim Bunning, the Kentucky Republican and former major league pitcher for Detroit and Philadelphia, who was asked by GOP colleagues not to run for office next year.

Ah, yes: Jim Bunning, the man who last year predicted that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would die of pancreatic cancer within nine months.The track record for athletes in politics has been mixed, but as a major league pitcher-turned-senator, Schilling would have a particularly shining example to emulate in the form of Jim Bunning.

Bloody sock or no bloody sock, and bloviating tendencies not withstanding, anything would be an upgrade over that crochety old guy from Kentucky. Even his Republican colleagues want him gone. Hopefully Schilling will enjoy a better reception.