Curt Schilling to auction off World Series bloody sock

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is selling the famous blood-stained sock he wore during the 2004 World Series.

Heritage Auctions plans to begin online bidding around Feb. 4, with live bidding on Feb. 23.

Chris Ivy of Heritage Auctions conservatively expects the sock to attract a top bid of at least $100,000.

ESPN.com's Darren Rovell tweeted that Schilling was told he could get $600,000 for the sock back in 2005.

The sock had been on loan to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and will be displayed at Heritage's Manhattan office before the auction, according to Ivy.

The recent bankruptcy of Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios, could provide a motive for his decision to auction off the sock -- one of two socks bloodied by Schilling's injured ankle that made headlines as a postseason sidebar. The sock Schilling wore in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series is believed to have been lost in the trash at Yankees Stadium. The sock that will be auctioned off was worn in Game 2 of the World Series, a game Schilling won in helping the Sox sweep the Cardinals and claim the team's first World Series championship in 86 years.

Schilling has claimed to have invested as much as $50 million in the failed video game venture, and had depleted all he had earned during his baseball career. He also made personally guaranteed loans to the company and listed the sock as bank collateral to Bank Rhode Island in a September filing with the Massachusetts secretary of state's office.

Schilling told WEEI-AM in October that the prospect of having to sell the sock was part of "having to pay for your mistakes."

"I put myself out there" in personally guaranteeing loans to 38 Studios, he said, and is seeking what he called an amicable solution with the bank.

"I'm obligated to try and make amends and, unfortunately, this is one of the byproducts of that," he told the station.