In a recent interview with the Boston Globe former all-star pitcher Curt Schilling revealed that he had a heart attack back in November of 2011. The heart attack may have been brought on by stress caused by the impending failure of his video game venture 38 Studios.
Schilling won two World Series in his 20 year career; one with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 and the one with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Schilling's performance during the historic Red Sox playoff run made the man a legend as he pitched against the New York Yankees days after ankle surgery famously turning his sock bloody.
After the collapse of 38 Studios the Schillings lost most of their money and resorted to selling the famous sock, according to the Boston Globe.
When speaking about the failure of the business someone said that it wasn't worth having a heart attack over to which Schilling replied that he had already done that.
"It was a decent one," Schilling said. "It's not something ....I had one, and it was dealt with."
Schilling suffered the heart attack while watching his wife run the 2011 New York City Marathon. Despite feeling chest pains he waited for her to finish the race and returned to Boston before heading straight to the hospital from Logan Airport, according to the Boston Globe.
"I didn't think it was anything serious," Schilling said. "My doctor made it clear that I was very, very lucky."
Schilling's attempt to start a video game company was a catastrophic failure that cost him $50 million dollars and the state of Rhode Island, a major investor in the company who gave 38 Studios $75 million in bonds to relocate the company to Providence, lost close to $100 million, according to the Boston Globe.
"Outside of, like, personal family - losing my dad - it was the most devastating thing I've ever gone through," Schilling said. "It was so hard, because I had pushed and pushed and pushed. I had 300 families [of employees] I had to take care of, including my own, and it failed."
In order to get over the company's failure Schilling has been working as an analyst for ESPN and coaching his daughter's softball team.
"This is a great distraction for him," Shonda Schilling, Curt's wife, told the Boston Globe. "It has given him purpose."
