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Baseball Today: Thursday, April 26 »

Was that paint on his sock?

The TV play-by-play man for the Baltimore Orioles said during last night's broadcast that Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli told him that it was paint, not blood, on Curt Schilling's sock during Schilling's fabled Game 6 performance in Yankee Stadium during the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Gary Thorne, a broadcaster with a national reputation, said this to broadcast partner Jim Palmer, according to today's Boston Globe: "The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking."

"Nah," Thorne said. "It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR."

The Globe's Gordon Edes caught up with Mirabelli after last night's Red Sox win. Mirabelli said this when told of Thorne's remark: "What? Are you kidding me? He's [expletive] lying. A straight lie. I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood." According to the Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck, Mirabelli could be heard after the game saying he wouldn't know Thorne "if he walked in here."

Schilling also denied the story, offering to show reporters a nine-inch scar and adding: "There are some bad people in your line of work, man," Edes reported.

Former teammate Kevin Millar spoke up in Schilling's defense in the Baltimore clubhouse, while the Red Sox told Edes that they may seek a retraction.

Thorne is a newcomer to the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which broadcasts Orioles games, but he has spent seven years broadcasting the NHL for ABC; covered the Nagano Olympics in Japan for CBS; and has been a radio broadcaster for the New York Mets and a TV broadcaster to the Chicago White Sox, among many other listings on his broadcast resume.

It will be interesting to see if Schilling addresses this issue today on his 38Pitches blog.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 7:31 AM | Permalink