BOSTON (AP) – With television ads, charity work, and of course, pitching for the Red Sox, Curt Schilling has become an omnipresent face in the region with only two months into his first season for the team.

Schilling has appeared in ads for New England Ford Dealers, Dunkin’ Donuts and Reebok, causing actor Ben Affleck, a Cambridge native, to joke about the pitcher’s popularity during an April charity luncheon.

“I really made a conscious effort not to overdo the ads,” Schilling told the Boston Sunday Globe. “But the ads were on the air so much that it left people with the impression I’ve done a lot of different things.”

And he has.

Aside from endorsements, Schilling goes on WROR radio weekly with morning DJs Loren and Wally and he fights diseases through his family’s charities, Curt’s Pitch for ALS, to battle Lou Gehrig’s disease, and The Curt and Shonda Schilling Melanoma Foundation.

“Schilling is a proven winner, a workhorse who wears his passion on his sleeve,” said Daniel Ladik, a marketing professor at Suffolk University. “There’s no question; he wants to be here, and he wants to win. He’s an extrovert to the nth degree. I can’t name another Red Sox player like that.”

Schilling’s teammates are also well known to the local public, but their off-the-field appearances vary.

Red Sox right fielder Kevin Millar is in television ads for KFC fried chicken while outfielder Johnny Damon has been featured in ads for New England Ford Dealers and a promotional event for Gillette Co. Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra has starred in ads for Fleet Bank and Dunkin’ Donuts.

“We do hundreds of commercials every year, and very few of them get talked about,” said Scott Kavanagh, regional account director for New England Ford Dealers’ ad agency, J. Walter Thompson. “The hitchhiker spot with Curt got more positive feedback than any spot.”

Schilling would not disclose how much he makes from his ad appearances. The Red Sox are paying him $12 million this year.

Schilling’s family has also received some of the attention from advertisers, including in the Ford commercial when his wife, Shonda, and their four children order him to do push-ups and overlook him when it’s time to drink lemonade.

“By letting people see you and your family, they see that, and they become more comfortable around you,” Schilling said.

AP-ES-06-13-04 0426EDT