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Curt Schilling was not invited to throw out first pitch for Game 2 with 2004 Red Sox teammates

Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling celebrates an out during Game 2 of the 2004 World Series. Schilling was not invited to take part in a ceremony honoring players for that championship team Wednesday night.
(Winslow Townson / Associated Press)
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Curt Schilling did not take part in the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday night honoring members of the Boston Red Sox‘s 2004 World Series champion team before Game 2 of this year’s series.

He wasn’t invited, even though Schilling and his bloody sock played a key role in that curse-breaking title run, and even though he still lives in the Boston area.

Seven other members of that team — David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar, Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, Keith Foulke and Alan Embree — took part in the festivities before the Red Sox played the Dodgers at Fenway Park.

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Even Dave Roberts, another key member of the 2004 squad who is now the Dodgers’ manager, was invited to participate (he declined, but was still recognized as part of the ceremony before the game).

But Schilling never received such a call, a Red Sox executive told the Boston Globe.

“We did not reach out to him, but it was not out of spite,” the executive said. “It was originally just going to be Pedro and David and Wake and Millar, but we heard from a few others and they are included.”

The outspoken Schilling has become a controversial figure after years of expressing extreme right-wing views. In 2015, he was dropped from ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series in August and then suspended for the rest of the Major League Baseball season for tweeting a meme that compared Muslims to Nazis.

The following April, he was fired by the network after posting a meme widely interpreted as anti-transgender on his Facebook page.

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Schilling, who currently hosts the show “Whatever It Takes” on Sirius XM’s Breitbart Radio, confirmed in a tweet Wednesday afternoon that he was not asked to participate in that night’s pregame ceremony.

“No worries though … ,” he wrote. “I get to keep my 3 rings and 3 trophies, so it’s all good.”

Schilling went on to discuss the matter in great detail on Facebook later that night.

“What they did, or did not do, tonight was done 100% on purpose and completely expected,” he wrote of the Red Sox organization.

“Were my feelings hurt? In one sense, yes, not being able to be on the field with the men who I will always share that 2004 bond with and not being able to once again thank the folks who paid for the tickets and whose lives changed with ours sucks.”

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He added: “I will sleep soundly again tonight because I know what I did in 2004, the men on that field know what I did. Most importantly? The men who sit in that ivory tower and pass their judgment from on high know EXACTLY what I did and it shames them as men knowing they’ll never in their lives be able to do anything remotely close to that. ...

“I don’t need a ceremony to know what we did that year.”

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii

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