Roger and Me

Rocket Fueled Schilling's Success

"I think Roger was the first step, and a huge step for me. I was working out in the offseason in 1991 in the Astrodome and Roger was in the weight room working out. And I was kinda going through the motions of getting my time in, whatever I had to do and Gene Coleman the strength coach came over and said Roger wanted to talk to me. And I knew Roger, from being in the Red Sox organization before that, and being the pitcher that he was, and so I said great. So one thing I like to talk about is pitching. I thought that's what we were going to do. So I went over there and he proceeded to chew my ass off for about an hour and a half. And, I had lost my father three years before that, and I had not really had that guy in my life that said 'listen, you know what? you need to sit down and shut up and listen. This is how it's going to work. This is what you need to do and when he got done.' And instead of walking away like a lot of people and saying 'what does he know?' my first thought was here's a guy who's won a bunch of Cy Youngs. Just spent an hour and a half of his day, and actually gave a crap about me, and OK I need to start addressing some issues. And I didn't turn it around that day, there was a process, but I think it started that day, and that was the biggest step." -- 2.24.04, Curt Schilling

Fenway's Friendly for Roger

"While it might be coincidence, Al Nipper will become the interim pitching coach as Dave Wallace recovers from a serious hip infection that might render him unable to coach during spring training. Nipper is one of Clemens's closest friends. Clemens also has other friends on the Red Sox, including John Flaherty, Tim Wakefield, and Curt Schilling. And Josh Beckett idolizes Clemens." -- 2.10, Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe