Red Sox Legend Was Offered Blank Check By Yankees Prior To Joining Boston

Boston almost lost a significant member of two World Series teams

Scott Neville | Sep 8, 2023

Red Sox Legend Was Offered Blank Check By Yankees Prior To Joining Boston /

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The Boston Red Sox are known as one of the winningest franchises in the modern era, capturing four World Series titles this century.

However, it was not long ago that it felt like the Red Sox were never destined to win it all, especially with the Evil Empire looming in the division.

One of the biggest moves that would eventually turn the tide for Boston was the trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Curt Schilling.

It turns out that the deal almost never happened. The established ace had a no-trade clause in his contract and was almost swayed to join the New York Yankees instead.

“One of the things I remember very vividly about the Boston thing is I had the Yankees on my phone in the interim saying ‘Hey listen, just don’t sign there. Let the window run out and when the window runs out we’ll be there Saturday morning and you can fill in the check. We don’t care,'" Schilling told Audacy's "The Bret Boone Podcast."

“I was like ‘This is kind of nice leverage to have’ but at the end of the day, the choice between Boston and New York came down to this: I can go be a Yankee and be a part of World Championship 27, 28, maybe 29, or I can go to Boston and do something no one alive has ever seen before. They said ‘We can’t pay you more than Pedro,' -- But you’re bringing me there to win a World Series so if I help bring the goods I want to get paid for it so I negotiated those things into the deal and I ended up making every penny of that money. We won two and it was everything you thought it could be.”

Schilling signed a two-year $25.5 million extension with a $13 million option in 2007.

He would go on to win the aforementioned pair of World Series rings while cementing himself as a Red Sox Hall of Famer.

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Published Sep 8, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu