This year another $175,000 was raised, adding to the $3.7 million taken in during the previous 14 years the event has been staged. And there is something undeniably poignant about that. The Schillings have poured their hearts into this cause for years.

Still, it would be impossible for Schill to be in town a week after the Phillies won their first World Series in 28 years and not ask him about his reaction.

He helped create the set of circumstances that forced the Phillies to trade him to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of the 2000 season. He went on to win a world championship there and then two more after moving on to the Boston Red Sox.

Even while all that was going on, though, he occasionally would muse aloud about coming back to the Phillies . . . or pitching the first game at Citizens Bank Park . . . or helping them capture that elusive trophy and taking the exhilarating ride down Broad Street.

"I was excited," he said. "We [he and wife Shonda] were both rooting for Philadelphia. I have some close connections with some people in the Tampa Bay organization, but we lived here almost 10 years. So the close connections we had spurred us on to be rooting for the franchise."

He'll be 42 when Opening Day rolls around next season and he's coming off shoulder problems that sidelined him all season. He says he doesn't know if he wants to continue but that, if he does, "Philadelphia would absolutely be one of the places I would consider. Arm feels great. Arm feels fantastic. Arm felt fantastic 2 or 3 months ago. I don't think that was ever the issue, whether it was going to feel good or not."

Can it be 15 years since Schilling dominated in the 1993 postseason, launching him into the upper echelon of pitchers?

There are those who believe that Cole Hamels' career may have taken a similar quantum leap forward with his 4-0 postseason that included being voted MVP of both the NLCS and World Series.

"I realized watching that Game 1 of the [division series against Milwaukee] and . . . I'm looking at this kid and you can see it. Not fazed. Relishing the environment. I got a rush out of that," Schilling said. "Everything's different in October. You have to go to a different place. You have to be better. It's not that you put up great numbers in October, it's that you're putting up great numbers in October against the best players and the best teams every start. That was always the big thing for me.

"I'm sure he's proud of what he did and it's special. But I'm not sure he'd look at that and say, 'I can't believe I did that.' I think he looks at that and says, 'That's what I'm supposed to do. That's why I'm at the top of the rotation. That's my job.' I looked at it as a challenge that was going to be tough and all that other stuff, but I expected that of myself. And I kind of think he thinks the same thing about himself."

In the end, though, none of that is ultimately as important as the cause he was back in town for yesterday. And the Schillings believe they're on the right track.

"People were dying of ALS and now people are living with ALS," Shonda said.

Added Curt: "We're certainly a lot closer than we were 16 years ago. I would love to sit here and tell you definitively that there are tangible things you can put your finger on . . . We're closer. I think we can see the finish line. It's still in the distance, but the race is now one of money. The amount of money and the time frame in which it's raised is going to dictate when the cure is found much more than whether it is." *