Richie Scheinblum? A banquet in a Riviera dining room follows the golf tournament, and Blyleven, nattily dressed in a camel's hair sports coat, navy blue trousers, blue shirt and uncut tie, is the master of ceremonies. The ones worse than him who are in are generally mistakes. The lone hit in that game was a bunt single by slow-footed Ed Kirkpatrick in the fifth inning. 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, .avia-section.av-k6v62xgq-c0812a68936ee67ed4883eaa9d35be9b{ Again last season he got embroiled in a couple of controversies. Bert Blyleven. Take his 1974 season, when he went 17-17 despite a tremendous ERA+ of 142. "O.K., I've got a ball here signed by Henry Aaron. Who has blue ticket 92594? Blyleven has always had trouble with his name. But Gossage and Sutter are relievers, and the Hall is still trying to figure them out. produces a result. "There's not a lot of dropoff in his stuff. How far, in feet, a runner is ranging off the bag at the Francisco the busboy? So you know: later this week as induction day nears, Ill have a Bert Blyleven career highlights piece up at THT Live. Blyleven threw two different styles of curveballs, the most unique one being the drop that he held across the seams, a grip that is said to have been mastered only by him, Bob Feller and, Koufax. Bert was an Instructional League Twin at 18 in 1969 and a Pittsburgh playoff winner at 28 in '79. Blyleven was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2011 after receiving 79.7% of the vote on his 14th attempt. No other prominent pitcher in his prime had such a lousy divergence from his expected W-L record based on his real-life run support as Blyleven did. It was 14 years of praying and waiting, but I want to thank the baseball writers for finally getting it right, he said when his election was announced on January 5. Id say 95 percent of that mysterious third element is luck, but does that mean its never anything else? He must have had terrible run support. This list is composed based not just on the nastiness of the curveball but also on how effectively it was used along with the pitcher's other weapons. This was especially pronounced in his first seven full seasons, 1971-77, when he was in his prime. Thats doesnt sould too bad. The ones better than him who are not in would make legitimate candidates. On a recent afternoon Blyleven went to see Todd play basketball for his seventh-grade team. My dad built a mound in the backyard and had a canvas hung behind a horseshoe pit. Kirkpatrick, 40, is sitting in the back of the dining room with his wife, Judy. "I saw him when he was 19 and I've seen him now," Howser says. Even though he put more miles on his arm in his 20s then nearly all of them, he kept on going. Paige has a unique ability to blow hitters away and come right back and make them look foolish. Terrys reaction was to swing straight down, like he was chopping the plate with an axe. Don Drysdale was done two weeks after his 33rd birthday. He took quiet pride in Todd's 10-point game, a performance that reminded one of a young Jack Sikma. Essentially a two-pitch hurler (curveball and fastball) thus far in his career, Blyleven developed an offspeed pitch during spring training in 1971, and the results were immediate. ", Not only does Blyleven pitch for the Indians, he actually likes being an Indian. The difference between the two projections should be what his run support cost him. He began teaching the pitch to himself, learning to throw a drop in junior high. The only thing Blyleven hates more than pitch counts is the use of . None had ever fallen below 30 percent. play. Stand behind a tree 60 feet away and Ill whomp you with an optical illusion, challenged Dizzy Dean. Mike Jeffcoat. Blyleven starred on the Santiago High School baseball team, also running cross country to build up his stamina and leg strength. This isn't a tournament along the ropes of, say, the Hope or the Crosby. Bert Blyleven addresses the ball. Blyleven said the Twins then played on the road in Detroit and there was a Twins fan with a sign, asking to be circled. Blyleven is rightPhil Seghi looks uncannily like Chief Wahoo. Even back in 1969 Blyleven had his sensational curve. ", Last year Blyleven was 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA against the American League West champion Royals. I assumed Blyleven had no chance with the current BBWAA. She says, "So now we'll have two.". The left-hander won over 200 games and struck out over 2,500 batters in his 18-year MLB career. 300. He knows how to pitch. He never surrendered more than 24 home runs in any year before, and after the 198687 campaigns, he averaged 21 allowed homers per season over the course of his career. A Batted Ball Event represents any batted ball that Bert was a terrific pitchera dominating pitcher. For some reason it has taken Blyleven 3,422 innings, 468 games, 195 wins, 15 years and four teams to be appreciated. The story goes that he was tearing up the Grapefruit League, leading his wife to ask if she should begin house hunting in his new major-league city. He came back in 1992 but was mostly unproductive, going 812 with a 4.74 ERA. Blyleven has often been labeled a troublemaker. attempt. Thats it? After his first year of Baseball Hall of Fame eligibility in 1998, Blyleven was widely considered to be the best eligible pitcher not yet enshrined. Blyleven missed the entire 1991 season following rotator cuff surgery. That, of course, would belong to Sandy Koufax. He pitched a no-hitter, was chosen to a pair of All-Star teams and also won two World Series Championships. The worst election by any of 20 guys who had gone on to election was one time Tony Perez finished exactly one vote shy of 50 percent. Corrales got a bullwhip. The Twins responded by trading him to the Texas Rangers. He didnt allowed more than 24 in any other season. A .264 career batter, Kennedy hit .120 in 25 at bats against Blyleven, collecting three hits while striking out five times. His run support wasnt that good every year, but by and large it was better than I wouldve guessed. Now, in the previous paragraph there are three things going on: 1) Blyleven's RA/9IP, 2) his run support, and 3) well, a third factor that's hard to define. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. You don't need this. In the '60s, Koufax had it. On July 16, 2011, the Minnesota Twins formally retired Blyleven's number.[26]. A Tom Murphy autographed glove. He throws it a little differently than most pitchers, holding the ball so that every finger except his pinky is touching a seam. In 2010, Blyleven had 74.2% of the votes, missing admission to the Hall of Fame by only 5 votes (0.8%).[22]. A doting daddy, Blyleven likes to spend time with his sons Timothy (above) and Thomas. Kid Nichols is the all-time champ. With the power of the internet, Lederers persistenceand, oh yeah, Blylevens own solid casehell have a nice weekend in upstate New York this year. Also, while I think Blyleven is a better pitcher than Kaat, I wrote a column on Kaat years ago arguing in 1967 he had the greatest stretch run by a pitcher ever in a pennant race: The third pitch was a hard check swing. He had thought all his life his given name was "Rikaalbert". Who does Bert pitch for these days? "One curve I'll always remember was when I was pitching for Pittsburgh, Blyleven once recalled. To me, that was the characteristic that made him an unquestionable HOFer. How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. It has also appeared as Ricalbert and Ribalbert. He also won a World Series in 1979 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Communication. Blyleven had his problems from 1982 to early 1984, but he recovered, aging better than anyone not named Maddux on that list. The question arose: Is there any way to adjust his W-L record by his run support? Despite retiring at age 30, Sandy Koufax recorded 2,396 strikouts, won four World Series Championships and three Cy Young Awards. Bert Blyleven Stats by Baseball Almanac. At the time of his election, he was the only eligible member of the 3,000 strikeout club and the only pitcher with 50 or more shutouts not in the Hall of Fame. Call it sunspots for all I care, it aint run support. If you think you just heard some big names, listen to these. Blyleven often looked back and saw players in the opposing dugout covering their face with their gloves as they laughed at a hitter who had ducked out of the way of a curve that had broken sharply across the heart of the plate, many of them ending up one of Blylevens strikeout victims. Many (especially in THT-land) will call it luck. "I open the bidding at $200. Yes, he rubbed up his hands, went down for the bat, and it wasn't there!". This weekend the Hall of Fame will have its annual induction ceremony, and sabermetric darling Bert Blyleven will finally get his well-earned plaque put on display. But Blyleven debuted on a ballot near the end of a stretch of 11 consecutive years with at least one 300-game winner up for nomination. Hal Newhouser barely won 200 games. Hmmm, maybe I should bid on it. Maglie's numbers are not overly impressive due to his stint in the Mexican League that got him banned from Major League Baseball. This year he is 4-6, with a 2.97 ERA. ", During a lull at the banquet, Scheinblum talks about Blyleven. As a player, Blyleven did not have the best reputation. Yet last year was the first time he ever got a vote for the Cy Young Award. In 1996, Blyleven became a television color analyst for the Twins, calling games for WCCO-TV and Midwest Sports Channel (later Fox Sports North). shouts someone from a passing golf cart. "Thanks everyone for coming, and good night. Brian yeah, if you look at pre-1920 guys its really nuts. He's also not afraid to throw inside to a hitter. "Mets Get Ken Henderson, Outfielder, From Rangers,", "From 1908 to 2018, Recorded no decision, as Starter, sorted by greatest number of games in a single season matching the selected criteria", "Indians' Blyleven The Subject Of Angel Trade Talks", "Ponson to play for Netherlands in World Classic", How a Part-Time Blogger Changed the Face of Baseball's Hall of Fame, The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Major League Baseball News, "Henderson, Rice elected to Hall of Fame", Alomar and Blyleven elected to Hall of Fame, Gallery Blyleven inducted into Twins Hall of Fame, Twins to immortalize Blyleven by retiring No. [15] Blyleven was unhappy playing for the lackluster Indians and forced a trade back to the Twins,[16] where he passed the 3,000-strikeout mark and helped the Twins to a 1987 World Series victory. Normally a guy entering the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot with 287 wins is pretty impressive. Joe worked on the railroads in Saskatoon and Regina and moved to California in 1955. Everything keyed off the fastball, but I could throw it at any time in the count, 3-2, bases loaded, I could throw it and throw it where I wanted, he said. As Blyleven wanders into earshot, Scheinblum says, "Of course, I feel very strongly that a person born in a foreign country should not be allowed to play in the major leagues.". [11][12] With the Pirates, he led the team in ERA, strikeouts, and complete games in 1978, and he helped them to a World Series victory in 1979. Blyleven cared more that everyone was having a good time. This led to a fundraising campaign with the Parkinson's Foundation and a sponsorship with the Minnesota Lottery. MLB Advanced Media, LP. That may not mean much to you, but Ron Theobald is the only man in baseball history to go into the on-deck circle without his bat. Says Roy Smith, a rookie pitcher who dressed next to Blyleven last season, "Because his stuff is so good, it really doesn't do me any good to ask him what he throws to certain hitters. It's like the fellow at the golf tournament said. "What other team gets to wear a picture of its general manager on its jacket?" Brett Butler was presented with an autographed picture of his favorite soap opera star. So close he might hang for No. His 20 no decisions in 1979 are the most by an MLB starting pitcher in a season, dating back to at least 1908.[13]. But those were entire careers. Blyleven's commentary was occasionally risqu for a baseball broadcast but provided interesting and friendly conversation between him and play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer. Ron Necciai is one of the most dominating pitchers that never materialized in the Major Leagues. have been very good to me, I like the way Pat manages, I think we've got a good, young club, and I'd like to be a part of a winning team in Cleveland. a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight Well, his curveball was good enough to strike out 27 batters in a nine-inning game at Class D Bristol and followed that up with a 24-strikeout performance. Only 16 other pitchers have at least 3,000 career strikeouts. Nice. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. 1. Those who try to hit it show far more respect, calling it Lord Charles or Uncle Charlie. No matter what you call it, 150 years or so after Cummings or Goldsmith threw the first one, it is still the pitch that separates major-league hitters from the rest. There is some argument as to whether Candy Cummings or Fred Goldsmith invented the curveball, but there is no argument about this: Bert Blyleven perfected it and rode it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I have some sympathy for that approach, but ultimately remain agnostic. A couple of years ago when he was on the disabled list and back home, he came to watch my son Monte pitch. Julio Franco, who had been arrested the previous winter for possession of a gun without a permit, received a toy pistol. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1973 Topps Set-Break #199 Bert Blyleven EX-EXMINT *GMCARDS* at the best online prices at eBay! The incident occurred when Rose was commentating on a Phillies game last year and sharing a story when he said . Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. But the injuries may have been a blessing in disguise, because they made him a better pitcher. Things went so sour in Minnesota that in Blyleven's last game as a Twin, some fans serenaded him with "Goodby, Bert, we're glad to see you go." In 1985 he again led the American League in shutouts with five. "Brought it in from Cleveland," comes the host's reply. Robin Roberts hung on a long time but was a shell of himself for many years. (Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) "I always played for my island," Alomar said in his induction speech. How much time, in seconds, it takes a runner to get from Blyleven was born in the Netherlands, one of only nine major leaguers to have been born in Holland as of 2020 (several major leaguers were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands outside Holland). Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have "Then we'd sneak down into the dugouts and grab whatever we couldresin bags and broken bats. Two years ago, when brush fires swept through the surrounding hills, Blyleven ascended to his roof, to water it down lest a flying spark set it afire, and fell off, breaking his left elbow. In 1986, he. Heres the chart showing how he shakes out year-by-year by this system: Looking at it above, how come he didnt win more games when pitching so great in the early part of his career? Bert Blyleven belongs in the Hall Of Fame because he pitched nearly 5000 innings, struck out 3700 batters, threw 60 shutouts, and compiled a career 3.31 ERA which was 18 percent better than the league . Now look at Blylevens careerpitching in tough spots wasnt his problem. Bah! One of seven children, Bert grew up in Garden Grove as American as, well, Dutch apple pie. Look again at that list of young big winners. Though his age-28 season, Blyleven tossed 2,624 innings, more than anyone since Pete Alexander. He currently ranks 5th all-time in strikeouts, 9th all-time in shutouts, and 27th all-time in wins. thrown with. Who? "When they asked us who wanted to play in the Instructional League in the fall of '69, I was the first one to raise my hand," he says. Uh, okay, Dean Chance). Paired with his 98 mile-per-hour fastball, Gooden's sweeping curve made him one of the league's most feared pitchers during his playing days. I have to ask him, 'Bert, what would you throw if you had my stuff?' Bert (Blyleven) was a terrific pitcher - a dominating pitcher." After the 1977 season, he was traded to the Pirates in a rare four-team trade. He became interested in baseball as a young boy watching Sandy Koufax pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and listening to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett announce the Dodgers' radio broadcasts. Blyleven, who has a seven handicap, is teamed with a couple of Cadillac dealers and an attorney, a zany Mormon named Tom Anthony. Wait a minute. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1969 amateur draft. Phone: 602.496.1460 One of the most remarkable things about Blyleven's career marks is that, of the active pitchers who rank ahead of him (Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Tommy John, Jerry Koosman and Phil Niekro), the youngest is nearly five years older than he is.