Schillings to maintain Boston ties

11/03/2007 7:44 PM ET

By Mike Petraglia / Special to MLB.com
BOSTON -- If it turns out that Curt Schilling has thrown his last pitch in a Red Sox uniform, he and his wife made it clear on Saturday night that they won't be leaving Boston behind.

In handing out the 2007 Curt and Shonda Schilling Humanitarian award to ALS worker Janet Palmariello at the Long Wharf Marriott, the couple made it abundantly clear that they will stay involved in fund-raising and charitable efforts in the Boston community.

"Because I think it would send the absolute opposite message of the one we're trying to send," the pitcher said to a crowd that included many of the ALS patients his work has helped. (ALS is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.) "If we were only involved in this because we're here, I don't think it would send the personal message we've always tried to send, which is that we care about these people. These people are growing up with our friends and around our kids and in our communities, and Shonda and I have had the incredible gift to make a difference."

The Schillings have helped raise $2.5 million for research and patient and family services for the local and regional chapters of the ALS association since the right-hander signed with the Red Sox prior to the 2004 season. On Saturday the couple hosted a private reception to thank the members of the 2007 Curt's Pitch for ALS who donated to The ALS Association's New England Chapters, many of them patients.

Shonda Schilling, a skin cancer survivor, has worked just as hard in the community, raising money for skin cancer awareness among several causes.

"I have had a combination of [emotions at leaving the Red Sox], knowing that the end is coming, knowing that my kids are old enough to understand, and we've certainly talked about this," she said. "The kids are old enough, and we've moved them all their lives, and the possibility of moving them is hard, because they're at an age where they've settled into an age group where they've made friends but on the other hand, we know it's one year."

Having won two World Series titles with Boston, Schilling is faced with the prospect of finishing what could be his final season, 2008, in a uniform other than that of the Red Sox. And he said it was the fans who made the experience what it was.

"This is so vastly different than anything else I've ever experienced in sports, the relationship between community, nation and players," he said. "This is a gift. The last four years have been an absolute gift for us. They made us part of the family. They wooed us to come here, and they've kept us here. I've certainly deserved a lot more boos than I've ever gotten here, and they've always been good to me, and they've been incredible to my wife and my family.

"Nothing amazes me about Boston and the people. I just got a message from [the comedian] Lenny Clarke, and I would say in the first 12 seconds, there were 11 F-bombs, and it was a motivational message, too."

Schilling is fully confident that if he pitches for another team next season, the fans won't hold any grudges.

"I think based on the feedback and the reception and the way people have been the last couple of days, I think they're all going to remember them the way they're supposed to remember them," he said. "I don't have a bad memory. I've certainly have had bad days and bad games, but I won't take away anything negative from any of this, other than the disappointment of not being able to come back. But I think the fans are going to remember it in a way that I'm very proud of being a part of."

If the Schillings move before the 2008 season, Shonda will still hold Boston in the highest regard.

"I've said this many times -- if you're going to play, this is the city to end up in, because we couldn't have accomplished the things we've accomplished here in Boston, charity-wise, without the fans," she said. "We did not raise the money, the fans helped us raise the money. We just kind of said, 'This is what we think is important,' and they helped us accomplish it.

"Everything that Boston promised us, and people told us about Boston, surpassed it. And I tell every [player's] wife, if you get a chance to play here, [do it], because there really is no other place like this."

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. MLB.com

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