Websurdity Links: Orioles broadcaster calls Schilling’s bloody sock a hoax o Thorne says he was wrong about sock
Baseball fans will be familiar with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s famous “bloody sock” from the 2004 American League Championship Series. An enduring symbol of the Red Sox’s first World Series victory in over 80 years, the bloody sock was the result of bleeding sutures from an ankle surgery Schilling had to undergo in order to pitch in the ALCS. The image of the bloody sock is one of the most dramatic in baseball history.
However, recent research casts doubt on this story, and whether or not the Red Sox won the World Series at all. If the sock itself was fake, what of the rest of the alleged Red Sox victory over the “Evil Empire”? What of the alleged World Series championship, supposedly the first in over 80 years? Did the Red Sox really pull off this major upset over their arch-rivals, or have we been duped?
All facts point to one thing: the Boston Red Sox did not win the 2004 World Series. They didn’t win the World Series then, they won’t win it this year, and they won’t win it in the future. The 2004 Major League season has more in common with the Major League movie franchise than the professional sports league. The only thing that was missing was Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger. The evidence I present in my new TV special, Conspiracy Theory: Did the Red Sox Really Win the World Series shows conclusively that the 2004 American League Championship Series and World Series were filmed on a Hollywood sound stage, and includes imagery analysis and secret films that Major League Baseball doesn’t want you to see!
Below is a companion guide to the TV special, which lays out some of the basic facts surrounding this massive hoax:
1) The Boston Red Sox had not won a World Series in over 80 years, while the New York Yankees won 26. The Red Sox had won 4 American League Championship Series, while the Yankees won 39! The gigantic difference in numbers alone show that the Red Sox defeating the Yankees defies all reason and logic.
2) No Major League Baseball team had ever come back to win a playoff series after losing the first 3 games. Yet the Red Sox, again defying all odds, managed to do this against the Yankees, the team with the highest payroll in baseball. Moreover, they did it in a surprisingly dramatic fashion that could only have come from a Hollywood Script: winning the first game by coming back in the 9th inning while losing, including a dramatic, nail-biting stolen base. And, of course, there was the dramatic so-called “bloody sock.”
3) Pictures of the “bloody sock” clearly show it was staged as a prop for dramatic effect. The image, which was flashed over and over in the media, always seemed to be posed just a little too perfectly. Then, as we analyzed the photograph more closely, we spotted a mistake that could be the undoing of the entire thing: a “T” written on pitcher Curt Schilling’s shoe that doesn’t belong there. What is the significance of this? Simple: the “T” is part of a lettering technique used by prop experts to correctly stage scenes for films. Some hapless film crew probably forgot to put black tape over the letter, and accidentally let the scene air with the letter still prominent on the shoe.
4) It would have been impossible for anyone to undergo the procedure that Schilling allegedly went through, and then throw 100 pitches at 90+ miles per hour for over two hours! In Schilling’s own words, his ankle skin was “sutured down to the tissue covering the bone” in his ankle joint. Yet the Red Sox claim that he was able to throw for seven innings – giving up just 4 hits and 1 run, no less! That works in movies. Not in real life. Simple physics would have prevented him from throwing any breaking pitches, let alone a fastball moving at over 90 miles per hour.
5) The actual bloody sock from the American League Championship Series has gone missing. Curt Schilling claims to have put it in the wash and that now a Yankees employee may possess the item. If you had really just pulled off one of the most dramatic victories in baseball history and had the symbol of that victory, the bloody sock, would you put it in the washer? This is a very convenient turn of events that prevents anyone from authenticating the sock and proving whether or not the Red Sox did, in fact, win the 2004 ALCS and World Series
6) A startling number of Red Sox players from the alleged “World Series Team” mysteriously left the team shortly after the alleged championship. Star ace Pedro Martinez left the very next year, along with Dave Roberts, the player responsible for the famous “stolen base,” Orlando Cabrera, the starting shortstop, 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, and pitcher Derek Lowe. Even more players left after the next year, including starting 3rd baseman Bill Mueller, 1st baseman Kevin Millar, and star center fielder Johnny Damon – who, “coincidentally,” moved to none other than the Yankees. Pitcher Keith Foulke, who threw the final pitch in the World Series, was demoted from his key role the next year, and eventually left the Red Sox just 2 years later, a shell of his former self. Indeed as of this year, only two starting fielders from the 2004 “world champions” remain with the organization. Were these players let go because they threatened to expose the hoax? Were they shipped away for not “playing ball” with the conspiracy? We can only wonder, until one of them comes forward with the truth. But the coincidence of this max exodus is too much to ignore. These players left for a reason.
7) The final ball pitched in the 2004 World Series was strangely held hostage by Doug Mientkiewicz, the player who caught it. Mientkiewicz was also part of the unexplained exodus of players from the team. Despite the fact that the final game was played in St. Louis, the Red Sox tried to claim the ball was their property, and paid an inordinate amount of attention to reclaiming that particular item. Why were they so interested in that one ball? And why was Mientkiewicz so intent on holding it? Could it be that that ball was evidence of the hoax? Was Mientkiewicz threatening to expose the whole thing?
8) An astute fan leaked this video to YouTube, which clearly shows the film crew preparing the set for filming. This activity begins at approximately 6 minutes in, when the fan begins surreptitiously filming the set. The date of this film is July 2004, just three months prior to the World Series!
9) Two known Hollywood thespians, Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, were confirmed to be filming at Fenway Park in the summer of 2004, along with Hollywood Directors The Farrelly Brothers. They later released a movie, “Fever Pitch,” about a lifelong Red Sox Fan and his devotion to the team in spite of their losing ways. In a truly convenient twist of fate, the Red Sox won the World Series the same year — and just in time for a happy ending to be added to the film before its release! Who are they kidding?