Bert Blyleven, SP
Minnesota Twins (1970–1976), Texas Rangers (1976–1977), Pittsburgh Pirates (1978–1980), Cleveland Indians (1981–1985), Minnesota Twins (1985–1988), California Angels (1989–1992)
Bert Blyleven is a slam dunk for the IP Sports Hall of Fame for all of the same reasons he should be a slam dunk for the MLB Hall of Fame. He pitched for 22 years, has a career ERA of 3.31, 287 career wins pitching on some terrible teams. He started 685 games and in 242 of them he finished what he started and got the complete game. Roy Halladay is considered the best current pitcher at getting complete games and he has only 49 in his career, and many people consider him the best pitcher in baseball right now and probably a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Blyleven has 60 career shutouts which leaves him 9th on the all-time list ahead of guys like Don Drysdale, Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson and Don Sutton. And of course Blyleven’s best case for induction is his strikeout totals. In his career he set down 3701 batters in 4970 innings. When Blyleven retired the list of players with more strikeouts was Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan. In over-excited sports announcer lingo “That’s it, that’s the list.” Blyleven has since been passed by Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens, one of which may have had a little help for a few thousand of the strikeouts. But Blyleven is still 5th on the all-time list. There are only 16 players in MLB history to strike out 3000 hitters in their career.
With all of that, I’m proud to induct Bert Blyleven into the IP Sports Hall of Fame.
