MLB

Curt Schilling challenges ESPN with harsh Hillary Clinton takedown

Curt Schilling is still a righty throwing heat at 49 years old. His targets have changed since his ball-playing days, though.

The outspoken conservative traded in his tweeting fingers for his radio voice, blasting Hillary Clinton in expansive comments about the presidential election.

And while his diatribe was not limited to the left — he’s also not a Donald Trump fan — his refusal to keep his foot out of the political waters could force ESPN to reprimand him again.

During an interview with 610 Sports in Kansas City, Schilling — who had 216 wins and a 3.46 ERA in a great, 20-year MLB career — unloaded on Clinton, saying her email scandal should have her imprisoned (at the least).

“If she’s allowed to get to the general election before she’s in prison, I’ll be stunned and upset,” Schilling said, via The Big Lead. “Because I think she’s shown her true colors all along the way, and I’ll ask you this: Do you see her being anything even remotely different than what we’ve had?

“I don’t care what her titles are,” he continued. “She’s done nothing. She’s done absolutely nothing to further the success of the middle class. She jumps on the backs of people who she wants to be dependent on government. She needs these people to be dependent on her.”

Will the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee get sentenced to jail?

“I hope she does,” Schilling said. “If I’m gonna believe, and I don’t have any reason not to believe, that she gave classified information on hundreds if not thousands of emails on a public server after what happened to General [David] Petraeus, she should be buried under a jail somewhere.”

Schilling in 2007AP

To clarify: Petraeus, admitting he mishandled classified information, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and spent no time in prison.

But Schilling wasn’t done. The analyst, who was suspended by the Worldwide Leader last year for likening Muslims to Nazis in a meme, also couldn’t help himself when Trump was brought up.

“I’m tired of the ‘We’re going to make America great again.’ I get it, but what does that mean?” Schilling said. “If nothing else, Donald Trump has proven to politicians in every corner in the globe that America’s voting bloc is giving a giant middle finger to the establishment.

“Listen, he hasn’t elaborated, like, on two sentences for a policy. ‘We’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it.’ OK, how? ‘Well, I’ll tell you later.’ ”

In ESPN guidelines concerning election coverage, which the network made public two months ago, the sports network told its employees to steer clear of trumpeting personal opinions about the candidates.

“We should refrain from political editorializing, personal attacks or ‘drive-by’ comments regarding the candidates and their campaigns,” the missive says. “Approved commentaries on sports-specific issues, or seeking responses from candidates on relevant news issues, are appropriate.”

An ESPN spokesman said “we are addressing it” when asked about Schilling’s latest comments.

When ESPN last suspended Schilling, in early September in a ban that stretched until the MLB playoffs, the network did not state that his opinions landed him on the shelf, but that he handled himself in a way that put him and ESPN in a bad light. In addition to the Nazi meme, he sent angry emails to Awful Announcing defending himself.

“At all times during the course of their engagement with us, our commentators are directly linked to ESPN and are the face of our brand,” ESPN said at the time. “We are a sports media company. Curt’s actions have not been consistent with his contractual obligations nor have they been professionally handled; they have obviously not reflected well on the company.”

Schilling will not be back with ESPN’s top team, which is the Sunday night booth, it was announced in January. Dan Shulman will remain the play-by-play man, but he will be alongside Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone. Schilling moves to Monday night and John Kruk is going back to “Baseball Tonight” studio work.