Schilling Cancels Appearance With Bush
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=420 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=center><TD width="40%"><!-- Yahoo TimeStamp: 1099069021 --><!-- recent_timestamp 1099069021 6985 secs not stale 28800 secs -->1 hour, 56 minutes ago
</TD><TD noWrap align=right width="60%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- TextStart -->
By NORMA LOVE, Associated Press Writer
MANCHESTER, N.H. -
World Series (news - web sites) star Curt Schilling canceled a scheduled campaign appearance with President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday. An e-mailer identifying himself as Schilling posted a message on a fan Web site saying an ankle injury would prevent the Boston Red Sox (news) pitcher from attending.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="1%" align=left border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="99%"><CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=150 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD><CENTER>
AP Photo </CENTER>
<!--
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20041028/t/r1276388216.jpg && (
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20041028/t/r1276388216.jpg ~~ "http") --><!-- SlideshowStart --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><!-- SlideshowPhotoStart --><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=2><CENTER>
Reuters </CENTER></TD></TR><!-- SlideshowPhotoEnd --><TR vAlign=top><TD width="1%">
</TD><TD width="99%">
Slideshow: Baseball: World Series</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- SlideshowEnd --><!-- endif --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER><!-- start 2003 12/11 16:12 expire never -->
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width=158 bgColor=black border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=158 bgColor=white border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD><CENTER>
<SMALL>Latest Headlines:</SMALL> </CENTER><!-- recent_timestamp 1099075948 58 secs not stale 28800 secs --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="1%">
·</TD><TD width="99%">
2004 Presidential Endorsements
AP - 1 minute ago
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- recent_timestamp 1099075047 959 secs not stale 28800 secs --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="1%">
·</TD><TD width="99%">
Colorado could become the Florida of 2004
AFP - 15 minutes ago
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- recent_timestamp 1099074389 1617 secs not stale 28800 secs --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="1%">
·</TD><TD width="99%">
Alaskans to Vote on Legalizing Marijuana
Reuters - 26 minutes ago
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><HR width="80%" SIZE=0><CENTER>
All Election Coverage </CENTER>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- generated by static story_promo_pl_elec --></TD><TD width=5> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
"I am now not medically cleared to do anything until I see Doc on Sunday, so I cannot travel with President Bush," the message read.
The injury would have prevented Schilling from pitching again in the series, he told the Boston Globe.
"I couldn't have pitched," Schilling told the newspaper. "But the guys would have done it for me."
Schilling, who contributes frequently to online fan forums, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
The pitcher endorsed Bush in a TV interview Thursday, a day after the Red Sox won the franchise's first World Series championship in 86 years.
The e-mail said Schilling should have kept his opinion to himself.
"While I am a Bush supporter, and I did vote for him with an absentee ballot, speaking as I did the other day was wrong. While I hope to see him re-elected, it's not my place, nor the time for me to offer up my political opinions unsolicited," the e-mail read.
Schilling won Game 2 of the World Series and Game 6 of the American League championship series with his ankle stitched to protect a torn sheath around a tendon.
On Thursday, he was at Disney World in Florida for a parade, and he accepted the Bush campaign's invitation to campaign with the Republican incumbent in New Hampshire.
Many of the people lining up Friday morning for Bush's rally said they were more excited to see Schilling than the president. That includes Republican Congressman Jeb Bradley, who was wearing a Red Sox cap and said he hoped Schilling would sign it.
Children carried baseballs in hopes of autographs.