Schilling joins a group of 40-year-old pitchers who defy the laws
of aging and thrive, even as their contemporaries retire, get
released, or are felled by injury. Pitchers like
Roger Clemens (who
Schilling admittedly would like to see come back to Boston) and
Randy Johnson dominate hitters half their age at a time when
baseballs are sailing out of the ballpark at an alarming rate.
Sure, we've seen pitchers in their 40s excel before: Nolan Ryan
pitched a no-hitter when he was 44; 42-year-old Warren Spahn won 23
games. But never in the modern era have dominant 40-year-old
pitchers been so prevalent, with Clemens, Johnson (Diamondbacks),
Greg Maddux (Padres), Tom Glavine (Mets), and Kenny Rogers (Tigers)
leading the charge of the AARP brigade.
"You think it gets easier as you get older, but it doesn't," says
Schilling, who notched his 3,000th career strikeout and 200th win
last year, boosting his career win-loss record to 207-138.
"Approachwise, it's a matter of refining things, year in and year
out."
Schilling's approach is that of a professional student. There was
no epiphany or life-altering moment when everything clicked, no
specific event when the game slowed down, as athletes often say.
Instead, it was a series of small, and at times tedious, steps. A
process of listening to the right people and compiling the right
information.
"Getting to sit down and talk with Roger Clemens and being with
Johnny Podres (who was my first pitching coach), Kevin Jordan,
Lenny Dykstra, and Jason Varitek," Schilling says. "It just kind of
happened."
He absorbs any piece of advice or statistical data that will give
him an edge. He takes thousands of notes dissecting his opponent's
strengths and weaknesses. Watch Schilling in the dugout after
coming off the mound. Watch how he studies page after page of notes
of the upcoming batters he will face next inning. He cannot settle.
He doesn't know how - not even at 40, when most athletes are
winding down their careers.