After years of backlash, Curt Schilling says he’s leaving Boston to be with ‘people that are nice’

Curt Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher, could be heard hammering nails at his family’s new home in Tennessee during a phone interview Thursday.

Schilling said he’s leaving the Boston area, where his anti-transgender comments and other controversial remarks have cost him fans even though he helped the Red Sox win World Series titles in 2004 and 2007.

“Outside of our circle of friends, it hasn’t been a real pleasant experience in Boston,’’ Schilling told USA TODAY Sports. “So we’re just trying to find a place to live out our lives with happiness with people that are nice, and Tennessee is it.’’

Since 2007, Schilling and his family have lived in Medina, about a 30-mile drive from Boston.

In recent years, Schilling, 54, has become a far-right social media firebrand and drawn criticism for offensive social media posts ranging from Islamophobia to transphobia to support for lynching journalists and beyond.

Schilling waves to fans at Fenway Park in 2017. (Photo: Winslow Townson, USA TODAY Sports)

Schilling has failed to earn election to the Hall of Fame in his first nine years on the ballot and will make his final appearance in 2022. This year, he garnered 71.1% of the required 75% support. 

Schilling also disclosed that his wife, Shonda, has breast cancer.

“She’s battling,’’ he said. “It kind of came out of nowhere. So she’s finished her chemo, she’s halfway through radiation. We’re moving to Tennessee when her radiation is done.’’

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