Jamie Nye: Character matters; maybe now more than ever

Curt Schilling has a right to be mad. He has a right to believe he’s being left out of the baseball Hall of Fame for being a Republican.

To be honest, if Curt Schilling finished his baseball career in the ’90s and was on the ballot before social media was around, he’d be in the Hall of Fame.

As much as Schilling wants to deflect and talk about his wife-abusing, drug-using, violent teammates, he’s the one on the ballot being scrutinized, not those teammates.

And what we’ve now found out beyond his excellent pitching ability is he’s a transphobic xenophobe who once compared Muslims to Nazis.

Good character is listed in what voters should consider and 29 per cent of baseball writers clearly weigh that more than the 71 per cent who do believe Schilling deserved the call to Cooperstown.

Now the true test: Should the baseball Hall of Fame be a museum of the best ball players ever? Of course it should.

Should being an awful human keep you out? For 29 cent of baseball voters, it appears the answer to that is also yes.