Curt Schilling Says He Lost $50 Million on Video Game Company

June 22, 2012 -- Curt Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher, said in an interview today with WEEI-FM that he lost more than $50 million on his video game company 38 Studios.

"I'm tapped out," he told the Boston radio station. "The money that I had earned and saved in baseball was all gone. ... I put everything in my name in this company. I believed in it. ... But I'm not asking for sympathy. That was my choice."

Schilling, who said he never took a salary from 38 Studios, explained to ABC News his business philosophy prior to the release of the company's first game in February.

"I'm 46 years old, I've never worked an honest day in my life. ... I've been able to do what I love and what I'm passionate about my entire life," said the avid video game player. "I made, you know, an insane amount of money playing baseball. ... I've always wanted to be the best in the world as a baseball player, so when I started to think about opening a business, it was with that mindset."

38 Studios filed for bankruptcy protection on June 7, nearly 300 employees lost their jobs. Following the bankruptcy Schilling took a leave from his position as an analyst for ESPN; he hopes to return to that job soon.

While Schilling says he and his leadership team are responsible for the failure of the company, he insists it is not entirely their fault.

Rhode Island lured the company away from Massachusetts to Providence by offering a $75 million loan guarantee in 2010. Schilling believes Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who campaigned against the loan guarantee when he was running for office, never wanted to see the company succeed.

"After Governor Chafee went into office ... he had made a public comment that he was against the deal before he got elected, but now that he was in the office he was going to do everything he could do to help this company succeed. And that absolutely, unequivocally never happened in any possible way," Schilling said on WEEI-FM. "I think he had an agenda and executed it."

Last month, Chafee raised questions about the company's solvency and Schilling said those comments hurt 38 Studios' ability to land private investments. Schilling also alleged the company had found an investor who was willing to invest $15 to $20 million to keep it afloat, but Chafee's decision not to take action allowed the deal to fall through.

Chafee spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger said today that the governor had been 38 Studios' "biggest cheerleader."

As state and federal investigators look at the company's finances, the state is trying to determine how much money it will lose after the company's disintegration. Citizens Bank is suing Schilling to recover $2.4 million in loans it made to the company.

"I wanted to create jobs and create something that had a very longstanding world-changing effect," Schilling said. "We were close. We were close to getting there. It just fell apart."

Schilling was a top pitcher in the major leagues from 1988 to 2007 for teams including the Red Sox, Phillies and Diamondbacks. His win-loss record was 216-146 and his ERA was 3.46.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.