The story told to the public sounded reasonable enough. Curt Schilling had pitched with ankle soreness for much of the year, but in the playoffs, we were told, he tore the tendon that runs around the back of the ankle to the bottom of the foot, leaving a displaced sheath that normally holds the tendon in place. From there, the story went that Red Sox doctor Bill Morgan sutured the tendon in place so that Schilling could pitch. The story sounded perfect, but it wasn’t true.
The real story, according to neighbors of Curt Schilling and sources within the Red Sox, is that while doing some yardwork with a power saw in the days prior to his ALCS starts against the Yankees, Schilling actually completely severed his foot.
“I’ll never forget it,” said neighbor Ralph Morris. “Curt was sitting on his deck holding the foot, and saying, ‘I worked so hard for this, now I’ll never be able to pitch in the ALCS.”
Enter Dr. Bill Morgan. “All along, Morgan thought there was still a chance Curt could pitch,” says a Red Sox source. “Morgan told Curt to fly to New York, and bring the foot (see picture on left) with him. We flew him in on a private jet, and whisked him into the locker room. What it came down to was that Morgan didn’t suture the tendon in place—that was just some story we came up with—he sutured the entire foot on.”
Evidently, Schilling’s poor outing in Game One can be traced to an incident in the bullpen. “Morgan simply hadn’t sutured it properly, and after one warmup pitch, that old foot just tumbled right off. Varitek immediately stuck the foot in a bucket of ice, and we rushed him back to suture it again, but it was just before game time and we were too rushed. He was very uncomfortable pitching. Between innings you could see the foot was just hanging on by a thread.”
Still hope remained. Schilling’s foot was kept in a special freezer in between starts, while Schilling hobbled around just wearing an attached wooden foot. Every hour, the foot would be taken out of the freezer and massaged and specially treated. By Game Six the suturing process was perfected. “We had him on so many painkillers he literally didn’t even know his own name,” said the source. “But he just kept pitching.”
After the Cardinals game, the skin around the sutures was starting to fray, and was actually starting to pull his leg off, so it’s doubtful he could have pitched again. The foot was put back on ice, and he wore the protective boot until he eventually had surgery.
“The most inspiring part of the story for me,” said neighbor Ralph Morris, “is that after he initially severed the foot, he tried to re-attach it himself. He had Shonda bring out her sewing kit, and there he was, trying to sew the dang thing back on. What a warrior.”
