Former MLB star EXPOSES Stephen A. Smith



The evidence just keeps stacking up against Stephen A. Smith, and this time it’s from former Red Sox and Phillies pitcher Jonathan Papelbon.

“Stephen A. did a segment dissing Mike Trout and saying, you know, he’s too injured, and how could he get injured in a sport like baseball where there’s not much contact or whatever. And then Jonathan Papelbon kind of opened up a can on Stephen A. Smith,” Jason Whitlock explains.

Papelbon then recounted a story on the show "Foul Territory" that does not bode well for Smith’s already shaky reputation.

“When I was in the Philadelphia clubhouse, we had a traveling secretary named Frank the Tank,” Papelbon began, saying he got into a conversation with Frank about Stephen A. Smith.

“I said, ‘Well, how come he never comes in the clubhouse any more?’ and he says to me, ‘Oh no, we had to kick him out of the clubhouse,’” Papelbon recalled.

“He proceeds to tell me that he was doing all kind of shady s*** like going through the manager's office when he wasn’t in there, going through the training room, pulling out reports, and all kinds of places he shouldn’t have been,” he continued.

“So for me, I've always looked at this guy like a complete joke and really is just real shady. Real shady guy. Like when you get kicked out of a major league clubhouse, that means that you should never be able to be a journalist ever again,” he added.

Jason Whitlock isn’t sure he believes it, but he isn’t writing it off, either.

“Any time you start passing along gossip and things you heard, it’s kind of high-risk and undermines the credibility of the accusations,” Whitlock says.

“I can’t see Stephen A. Smith hunting through private documents inside a baseball locker room, but who knows?” he continues. “Stephen A. doesn’t have much ethics. He’s willing to write books and a fictional narrative about himself, so I guess, you know, he’s potentially capable of it.”


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Unvaccinated baseball player defiant as he's barred from crossing border into Toronto: 'I'm not gonna let Canada tell me what I do and don't put in my body'



Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto — one of several players on the squad barred from crossing the border into Canada to play against the Toronto Blue Jays this week because he's unvaccinated against COVID-19 — was defiant about the restriction placed upon him.

"I'm not gonna let Canada tell me what I do and don't put in my body," Realmuto told a reporter during a locker room interview about the subject.

What are the details?

Along with Realmuto, Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola, third baseman Alec Bohm, and starting pitcher Kyle Gibson are unvaccinated and didn't make the trip to Toronto, WCAU-TV reported. The Phillies lost Tuesday night to the Blue Jays 4-3 in the first of two games up north.

The station said players on this particular restricted list don't get paid, and Realmuto is forfeiting more than $262,000. But the money isn't what's on the catcher's mind.

"For a little bit of money, it's not worth it," he told a reporter.

Realmuto also explained his reasoning for not getting jabbed.

"I'm a healthy 31-year-old professional athlete, and I just didn't feel a need to get [the vaccine]," he said. "I've had COVID a couple of times [with] super-mild symptoms back when it first came out, and when it came time to decide whether I needed the vaccine or not, I talked with doctors that I knew, and I told them my story and just really decided I didn't think I needed it. I wasn't gonna take it just 'cause I was told to, basically."

\u201cJ.T. Realmuto on not being able to join the Phillies in Toronto due to his vaccination status:\u201d
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBC Sports Philadelphia) 1657593974

"It's an extremely unfortunate situation," Realmuto added. "Obviously, my teammates know how I feel about them, and how bad I want to be out there with them, but it's just unfortunate I'm not able to make the trip."

Realmuto's teammate Kyle Schwarber — who leads the National League with 28 home runs so far this season — told WCAU in a separate story that the club has the backs of every unvaccinated player.

“Just because we're headed to Toronto doesn’t mean someone is being a bad teammate because they didn’t get [the vaccine], right?” Schwarber told the station. “It all comes down to a personal decision. It’s unfortunate that Canada is not letting people in that will be in a controlled environment, but we can’t tell a government what to do."

Schwarber — who's headed to the All-Star Game and will participate in the arguably more popular Home Run Derby — added to WCAU that while he's vaccinated, "I don’t push it on people. It’s people’s own decision. If you want to get it, great. If you don’t, fine. I’m not going to treat you any differently, nor should anyone."

He also told the station that the decision Realmuto and other teammates made "kind of goes bigger than a game. It can go to your personal or religious beliefs. We’re playing a game. Guys have made decisions for themselves."

Anything else?

Vaccine status hasn't affected Major League Baseball players only. It's also loomed large in professional basketball — and not just because Canada is barring unvaccinated players, either. Remember the kerfuffle surrounding star Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving not being able to play in his own city?

Apparently the National Hockey League isn't experiencing such issues, as the league reported last fall that only four players were unvaccinated.

Also, Canada isn't the only vaccine-restrictive country. Superstar tennis player Novak Djokovic, coming off his fourth straight Wimbledon singles victory this weekend, is saying he has no plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine so he can enter the United States to play the U.S. Open in late August. For that decision, a tennis journalist ripped Djokovic as an "anti-vax posterboy."

Left-wing radio host wants Trump fan Curt Schilling wiped from Phillies' Wall of Fame over 'racist' tweets. Schilling calls host a 'special piece of s**t.'



In our latest episode of the Cancel Culture Chronicles, we find a left-wing sports radio host apparently looking for a little attention — and greasing the skids by zeroing in on legendary pitcher Curt Schilling, who's been making headlines of late.

What is the background?

Earlier this week, Schilling — an outspoken conservative and major supporter of President Donald Trump — claimed that AIG canceled his insurance over his "social media profile."

We will be just fine, but wanted to let Americans know that @AIGinsurance canceled our insurance due to my "Social Media profile"
— President Elect Curt Schilling (@President Elect Curt Schilling)1610511562.0

The alleged insurance cancellation occurred in the wake of the U.S. Capitol riot last week, after which leftists — and the powers that be heeding their words — began vilifying and canceling conservatives at a dizzying pace. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pulled the plug on Trump, while Apple and Amazon took down Twitter competitor Parler.

Schilling posted a tweet hours after the riot — and it had some legs with the media: "You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for Air Jordan's and big screens, sit back, stfu, and watch folks start a confrontation for s**t that matters like rights, democracy and the end of gov't corruption." His tweet was still active Friday afternoon.

Wanna be startin' somethin'?

Enter veteran sports talk radio host Mike Missanelli, a well-known figure in Philadelphia sports circles who was on the airwaves when Schilling and the Phillies were vying for a World Series title in 1993.

So Missanelli — who's as outspoken about his left-wing politics as Schilling is about his conservative views — let the former Phillies star have it:

In light of his tweets (racist among other things) following the seditious attack on the Capitol - re: today’s Inqu… https://t.co/71SEzW8ZPl
— Mike Missanelli (@Mike Missanelli)1610643143.0

"In light of his tweets (racist among other things) following the seditious attack on the Capitol — re: today's Inquirer — I call upon the Phillies and John Middleton to immediately remove Curt Schilling from their Wall of Fame," Missanelli tweeted Thursday.

How did Schilling respond?

As you might guess, Schilling was not pleased with Missanelli's declaration and threw down with the radio host: "You know my family, you've known me for almost 30 years. It takes a special piece of s**t to do and say things you know are lies. Esp given you know my wife and her battle with cancer right now. Do me a huge favor, next time we're ftf call me a racist."

Missanelli replied as most folks on social media do — absent any clear and present physical danger, of course: "Your family is great. I sent your WIFE best wishes (it should have read). You turned into a traitorous asshole. There. That more clear for ya?"

He added in another tweet to Schilling, "You should be ashamed of yourself for your ignorant tweet DURING an act of sedition and for supporting it in any way."

It's worth noting that unless Schilling posted and deleted another tweet, the one in question was posted at 11:52 p.m. Jan. 6 — after the afternoon riot was over.

How did folks react?

Commentary on the dust-up has been a mixed bag. Some back Missanelli's wish to cancel Schilling. But others? Not so much:

  • "Let me know when that goes down, Curt. I got your back," one user noted. "Would love to have a front row seat watching you beat the crap out of this bitter lowlife."
  • "Mike is a scumbag Curt you know this already," another commenter offered. "Typical looney liberal."
  • "'Remove all traces of people that disagree with me' is straight from the commie playbook for a reason," another user said.

Schilling's wife, who is battling cancer, even got in on the war of words:

@MikeMiss25 Just what I need right now is to see an old friend trying to take away what clearly was earned with the… https://t.co/1L2pqocWI7
— Shonda Schilling (@Shonda Schilling)1610690259.0

Missanelli sent the following reply: "Shonda, you know you have always had my best wishes. And I pray for your good health. Your husband tweeting what he tweeted, supporting an act of sedition, DURING the act, is disgraceful. He can't now play the victim."

Anything else?

Schilling's outspokenness, particularly with regard to his conservative politics, has led to numerous controversies over the years:

  • His June 2016 blog post in the wake of the terror attack at an Orlando gay nightclub lit into gun control advocates and Muslims.
  • ESPN fired him in April 2016 for a meme he posted that mocked transgender bathroom laws.
  • And the sports network pulled him off the air in September 2015 for the rest of the baseball season over a tweet against radical Islam.

Also it's long been opined that his politics have kept him out baseball's Hall of Fame, but a Philadelphia sportswriter wrote that "Schilling belongs in Hall of Fame even though his views are worthy of nothing but shame."

Just before Trump's 2017 inauguration, Schilling said his support of the president also was keeping him out of the Hall.

"I promise you if I had said, 'Lynch Trump,' I would be getting in with about 90 percent of the vote this year," Schilling told TMZ Sports, a reference to baseball writers' politics as well as their all-powerful votes that grant entrance into Cooperstown.