Bert Blyleven
Though he won twenty games just once in his career, Bert Blyleven pitched for 22 seasons, baffling batters with his easy delivery and nasty curveball. He won World Series rings in both major leagues, even though just 34 of his 287 career victories came outside the American League. He has the most career strikeouts of any pitcher who is not in the Hall of Fame. |
Full bio ⇓
| Career Batting Stats |
| G |
AB |
H |
R |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
AVG |
SLG |
OBP |
OPS |
OPS+ |
| 699 |
451 |
59 |
19 |
0 |
25 |
0 |
.131 |
.146 |
.144 |
.290 |
40.8 |
|
Quotes About Bert Blyleven
"He was as good as there was for a long time. Bert is up there with the toughest four or five guys I faced in my career." — Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett
Quotes From Bert Blyleven
"I'm sure some other club would appreciate my consistency on the mound every fourth day. I'm in the driver's seat. I've got a chance to play where I want to. I'd love to play for the Angels. They've got a great organization and super fans." — Bert Blyleven on his desire to be traded from the Twins during his final season under contract, in 1976. A few days later, Blyleven was traded to Texas.
Where does Bert Blyleven rank among baseball greats?
Bert Blyleven ranks #38 among the Top 50 all-time at SP. Rankings ⇒
Best Season: 1989
It's difficult to choose a best year for Blyleven, who only won twenty games once (as a young pitcher in 1973 with the Twins), never led the league in ERA, and had several similar seasons. But we'll pick 1989, a season which epitomizes Blyleven's long, steady career. At the age of 38, in his first campaign with the Angels, who traditionally love veterans, Bert went 17-5 with a 2.73 ERA. He threw a league-best five shutouts, including the last of his 60 career whitewashes. In 241 innings he walked just 41 batters, striking out 131. Included that year was his 270th career victory.
Factoids
As a member of the Indians, Bert Blyleven collected his 200th win on June 14, 1985, against the Oakland A's… On August 1, 1986, Blyleven joined the 3,000 strikeout club, as he whiffed 15 batters, again against the A's.
Full Bio
Bert Blyleven was born in Holland, the first pitcher to have any sort of career who had been born there. In his 1970 debut with Minnesota he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced (the Senators Lee Maye). He would eventually yield 430 gopher balls, including a major league record 50 in 1986.
The right-hander went 20-17 in 1973, hurling 325 innings. Seventeen times he topped the 200 inning mark, including five times after the age of 34. He was a durable workhorse that ate up innings for his teams. He toiled for the Twins until he was dealt to the Rangers in May of 1976. With Texas he hurled a no-hitter in 1977. Despite being popular in Texas, the Rangers needed offense and traded Blyleven to the Pirates in the winter of 1977. In his first season he won 14 games and in 1979 he picked up 12.
The Pirates won the World Series in 1979 in unlikely fashion – rallying from a 3-1 deficit. Blyleven posted a 1.80 ERA in one start and a relief appearance. He lasted in Pittsburgh just one more season before returning to the American League with Cleveland. He pitched well in th strike-marred 1981 season but injuries slowed him the next two years. In 1984 he won 19 games for the Indians and the ’85 he was an All-Star.
The Twins acquired him for the stretch drive in 1985 and by 1986 he was anchoring the young staff. He won 15 games for the Twins World Series winners of 1987 – winning two more games in the ALCS and one in the Fall Classic. He had his second ring.
Blyleven lost 17 games in 1988 but rebounded with the Angels in 1989 to win 17. For his effort he won the Comeback Player of the Year honor. He had two more mediocre seasons with California, inching closer to the 300-win mark. But his failure to make the Twins staff in 1993 at the age of 42 left him 13 victories shy.
He retired third on the all-time strikeout list, with 3,701. His masterful curveball was one of the best of his era.
The Fingers
Blyleven claimed the success of his legendary curveball was due to his abnormally long fingers. Born in Holland, Blyleven claimed that the length of his fingers was due to sticking them in dikes as a child.
Career Stats by Team
Blyleven had a winning record everywhere he pitched, even in Cleveland and Texas. The Twins record includes his stints at the start and end of his career.
Team W L Pct ERA K
Twins 149 138 .519 3.28 2035
Rangers 23 23 .500 2.74 326
Pirates 34 28 .548 3.47 522
Indians 48 37 .565 3.23 548
Angels 33 24 .579 3.92 270
Born
Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born on April 6, 1951, in Zeist
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Major League Debut
6 5,
Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1970
Dave Concepcion
Jose Cruz
Don Baylor
Larry Bowa
Ken Singleton
Bobby Grich
Cesar Cedeno
Bert Blyleven
Charlie Hough
Blyleven was known as one of the more colorful players of his era. He was often involved in clubhouse pranks, and was especially known to be a master at giving the "hot-foot." The hot foot is a classic baseball prank where one player sneaks up on another and sets his shoe laces on fire. Despite this colorful image, I couldn't find any nicknames for Blyleven.
Uniform Numbers
#28 (1970-1977, 1981-1990, 1992), #22 (1978-1980)
Similar Players
Don Sutton
| Hall of Fame Voting |
| Year |
Election |
Votes |
Pct |
| 1998 |
BBWAA |
83 |
17.5% |
1999 |
BBWAA |
70 |
14.1% |
2000 |
BBWAA |
87 |
17.4% |
2001 |
BBWAA |
121 |
23.5% |
2002 |
BBWAA |
124 |
26.3% |
2003 |
BBWAA |
145 |
29.2% |
2004 |
BBWAA |
179 |
35.4% |
2005 |
BBWAA |
211 |
40.9% |
2006 |
BBWAA |
277 |
53.3% |
2007 |
BBWAA |
260 |
47.7% |
2008 |
BBWAA |
336 |
61.9% |
2009 |
BBWAA |
338 |
62.7% |
|
No-Hitter
9/22/1977: For TEX (A) vs. CAL (A), 6-0 at CAL. 9 innings pitched.
Post-Season Appearances
1970 American League Championship Series
1979 National League Championship Series
1979 World Series
1987 American League Championship Series
1987 World Series
Milestones
- June 14, 1985: 200th Win...
- August 1, 1986: 3000th strikeout... Mike Davis
Transactions
Selected by Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the free-agent draft (June 5, 1969); Traded by Minnesota Twins with Danny Thompson to Texas Rangers in exchange for Bill Singer, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Jim Gideon and $250000 (June 1, 1976); Traded by Texas Rangers to Pittsburgh Pirates as part of four-team trade in which Texas Rangers sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller to Atlanta Braves - Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to New York Mets - Texas Rangers sent Tom Grieve to New York Mets - New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to Texas Rangers - New York Mets sent John Milner to Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh Pirates sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to Texas Rangers(March 15, 1978) - and Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson to New York Mets(March 15, 1978); Traded by Pittsburgh Pirates with Manny Sanguillen to Cleveland Indians in exchange for Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Rafael Vasquez and Bob Owchinko (December 9, 1980); Traded by Cleveland Indians to Minnesota Twins in exchange for Curt Wardle, Jay Bell, Jim Weaver and a player to be named later (August 1, 1985) - Cleveland Indians received Rich Yett (September 17, 1985); Traded by Minnesota Twins with Kevin Trudeau to California Angels in exchange for Mike Cook, Rob Wassenaar and Paul Sorrento (November 3, 1988); Granted free agency (November 1, 1991); Signed by California Angels (January 22, 1992); Granted free agency (November 4, 1992); Signed by Minnesota Twins (January 7, 1993).
The Pirates offered Blyleven to the California Angels for Carney Lansford at the 1980 winter meetings, but were turned down.
All-Star Selections
1973 AL
1985 AL
Best Strength as a Player
Blyleven's curveball was considered the best of his generation, and many, including Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew, called it the toughest breaking pitch they ever faced.
Largest Weakness as a Player
None really, outside of his lack of respect, which continues to haunt him after his retirement.
Learn More about Bert Blyleven
Search Amazon.com for Books about Bert Blyleven ⇒
Search for Bert Blyleven at Google ⇒
View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒
Sources used for the Bert Blyleven Player Page:
Player file, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum