For a batter, Best Speed is an average of 50% of his hardest hit balls. He struck out 109 batters in 43 innings in his first season and 172 in his 126 career innings in Class D. Much like Nolan Ryan, Satchel Paige did not use his curveball as his primary pitch, but he still had a damn good one. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1969 amateur draft. Fansboth at home and at road gamescarried signs to the games saying "Circle me Bert". How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was Pittsburgh thought so little of him that it traded him and Manny Sanguillen to Cleveland after the '80 season for Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko, Rafael Vasquez and Gary Alexander. But Blyleven is still a big kid at heart. And he couldn't help it if he was injured. "It was an off year for ties," says Blyleven. time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. All Rights Reserved. One of the nicknames for a curveball is a "yakker." Maglie's numbers are not overly impressive due to his stint in the Mexican League that got him banned from Major League Baseball. Known for his terrific curveball, pitcher Bert Blyleven won 287 games over a 22-year major league career. Autographed in English. I assumed Blyleven had no chance with the current BBWAA. "He knows how to finish a game now," says Indian pitching coach Don McMahon. Enjoy this run through the 10 best curveballs in the history of baseball. and 32 degrees. 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. So how many wins did Blyleven lose solely due to his run support? "There's not a lot of dropoff in his stuff. To me, that was the characteristic that made him an unquestionable HOFer. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have However, Blyleven's early career with the Twins was not always pleasant as he was hounded by critics and fans. "One curve I'll always remember was when I was pitching for Pittsburgh, Blyleven once recalled. 1. He always goes out and buys me a new one. [21] In 2009, he gained only two votes, for a total of 338, 62.7%. Richie, you don't even exercise. Even the guys who didnt completely implode aged poorly. Ill be home soon. Says Corrales, "You love sending a guy like that every fifth day, and he's a great influence on a young ball club. Blyleven dominated batters for more than two decades with one of the best curveballs the game has ever seen and an underappreciated fastball. "Matlack, Milner Go In FourTeam Trade,", Durso, Joseph. He came back in 1992 but was mostly unproductive, going 8-12 with a 4.74 ERA. If you had to pick one starting pitcher to serve as in/out line for induction, Id go with Stan Coveleski. "I think the world of Chuck Tanner," says Blyleven now. Ill be looking for it, Chris, and will pass the link on; youve got more than a few fans over at the WGOM. Nearly a decade later while an Indian, he flipped the bird to fans in Baltimore. of his glove and to the base on a stolen base or pickoff From the moment he came to the major leagues, as a 19-year-old with the Minnesota Twins in 1970, he has been considered a great talent. And as for Reggie Jackson, well, hed just as soon take the day off as hit against Blyleven, who struck him out 47 times and held him to a .214 career average. Blyleven, who has a seven handicap, is teamed with a couple of Cadillac dealers and an attorney, a zany Mormon named Tom Anthony. Well, if its not luck, youre saying in so many words that the guy choked or lacked mental toughness. . Terry Kennedy was a young player with St. Louis. "Curveballs are like snowflakesnone are the same. Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born in Zeist, a municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands, the son of Johannes Cornelius and Jannigje Blijleven. 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. If you grew up in the 1980s, you likely have a major memory of Blyleventhe guy who gave up all those homers. ", Blyleven raises every bid, and, finally, he says, "Sold to me. But he's not a bad guy. Blyleven made his major league debut at age 19 for the Twins. Fine pitchers, but a definite step down from what had come before. I remember talking to scout Jesse Flores and Ed Roebuck, the pitcher, about the rotation. I still kid him about it.". Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. When the Angels came to nearby Anaheim in 1966, Bert didn't switch his allegiance, although he did become one of the stadium rats. "And here's a ball signed by the 1984 Cleveland Indians. He can't speak Dutch, but to this day he still understands a little of it. 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. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Now, does that really seem like an answer to the question of run support? The only problem was that his name was published as "Blylevan," which is the way the Twins spelled it in those days. Spanky, we love you.". Blyleven sat out most of the 1982 season with an elbow injury and struggled again in 1983, but he came back in 1984 with one of his best seasons: a 197 record with a 2.87 ERA. The Dodgers were ready to draft him in the first round in 1969, but in one of his last high school games, Blyleven got shelled. I'll have to admit that was a hell of a curveball.". Blyleven's curve breaks so quickly and so far that some batters swear they can hear it change direction. Gary Carter, Rich Gossage, Jim Rice, and Bruce Sutter have all gotten in, after initially finishing under 50 percent. 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. After getting his 18th win, Blyleven talked Cleveland Manager Pat Corrales into letting him pitch again with only three days' rest, and he won No. A curveball can also be thrown with some velocity in an attempt jam a hitter. Jack Brickhouse, a Chicago Cubs broadcaster, described the pitches Paige threw as "not quite legal but not quite illegal.". He took quiet pride in Todd's 10-point game, a performance that reminded one of a young Jack Sikma. What have we got here? Joe's brother, Cor, had gone to the U.S. before the war, and because it was easier to enter from Canada than from Holland, the Blylevens emigrated to Saskatchewan when Bert was two. 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. A Batted Ball Event represents any batted ball that He wound up completing 242 games and throwing 60 shutouts, the two numbers of which he is most proud. Who does Bert pitch for these days? "Somebody had a sign that read, 'We drove 660 miles from Detroit Lakes,' I . ", Bert also inherited a love of the Dodgers from his father; he worshiped two in particular, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. So you know: later this week as induction day nears, Ill have a Bert Blyleven career highlights piece up at THT Live. Many new voters had entered the mix, and old ones passed on. There are any number of reasons, starting with the fact that early in his career Blyleven relied too much on his ability to overpower hitters, especially late in the game. [18] He returned in his role for 2013 and 2017.[2]. [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. So far Blyleven has won 20 only once, in 1973, when he lost 17. 1971 TOPPS # 26 BERT BLYLEVEN NICE CARD. You've got to be kidding. The answer is 11. Angels pitcher Bert Blyleven throws a pitch during a game against the Baltimore Orioles on May 3, 1990 . 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. Don Drysdale was done two weeks after his 33rd birthday. Blyleven got so upset with his role in Pittsburgh that he walked out on the Pirates for 10 days early in 1980. OK, now lets figure out what Blylevens record should be based on pythaging his actual RA/9IP and his actual run support. Maye hit it out of the park. In the Florida Instructional League championship game, he beat the Indians 1-0 and was featured in a story in that year's Dec. 1 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. His fastball overpowered hitters and was clearly the pitch he relied on most heavily. In 15 years with four teams he has 195 wins and a 3.00 ERA. 16, worn by Ron Theobald. I've had a nice life since, and tried my best never to look back. Blyleven has a ball for every one of his regular-season major league victories, as well as for his win in the 1979 National League Championship Series for the Pirates and his '79 World Series victory over the Orioles. Jerry Willard. This is a free article. And now he has a little more command. The day is cold and drizzly and awfully close to miserable, and if the setting didn't happen to include palm trees and the swell Riviera clubhouse, one might think one were in. "Hey, Bert, where'd you get the weather?" He also suggested publicly that the Indians might be better off trading him to a contender for younger talentas they would soon do with his friend Rick Sutcliffe. 28, "Longtime Twins broadcaster Bert Blyleven hangs up the mic", June 2, 1976: Minneapolis Tribune column on Blyleven's trade to Texas Rangers. It was the last out of the inning. Although under-appreciated during his playing career, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011his second-to-last year of eligibility. He will do anything to get it. Here he is, a workhorse with superlative ERAs and a world-renown curveball, but he only made the All-Star team twice, in 1973 and 1985. In his parting shot, Blyleven called the Twins' fans "bleep bleep" and said, "They're behind you when you do good, and they turn on you when things go wrong. After just 21 minor league starts, he found himself called up to the Majors at age 19 on June 2, 1970. The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in Bert Blyleven. His 2.74 career ERA with the Rangers remains the best in team history. Those who throw it refer to it as The Hammer, The Yakker, even Public Enemy No. exit velocity of 95 mph or higher. From 1970-77, Blyleven went 122-113 despite an ERA+ of 134. That just leaves the years in his apparent prime, from 1970-77, when he won 17 fewer games than youd expect. When youre constantly winning 15 or more games a year, you dont need too many 20-win seasons to make this list. "I just don't think he knew how to use me." How much time, in seconds, it takes a runner to get from Blue 90672, raise your hand. He's also not afraid to throw inside to a hitter. He has had only one 20-win season, in 1973, the first year of the DH, when 12 American League pitchers won 20 or more. Dutch-American baseball player (born 1951), Cleveland Guardians Opening Day starting pitchers, Los Angeles Angels Opening Day starting pitchers, List of Major League Baseball career wins leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual shutout leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual strikeout leaders, List of Texas Rangers Opening Day starting pitchers, List of Major League Baseball career hit batsmen leaders, List of Major League Baseball career shutout leaders, List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders, "Twins' Bert Blyleven, a Fort Myers resident, moves from broadcast booth", "HOFers have long history with World Baseball Classic", "Wednesday's game marked Bert Blyleven's last Twins broadcast", "Bert Blyleven Society for American Baseball Research", "Sports of The Times; Blyleven And His Beard", -NY Times article Alomar and Blyleven elected to hall of fame, 1/5/11, "Blyleven traded to Texas in six-player transaction", Former Indians Blyleven, Alomar Elected to Hall of Fame, Durso, Joseph. Free shipping for many products! Hal Newhouser barely won 200 games. His wife, Patty, has a sneaking suspicion that he wanted the panda for himself as much as for their four children, Todd, 12, Kimberly, 10, Timothy, 3, and Thomas, 17 months. thrown with. In his seven losses, the Indians scored only six runs. Blyleven was a terrific pitchera dominating pitcher," Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson once said. become a hit. Thanks for the link at WGOM, by the way. Fortunately for him, life wasnt going to throw him that curve, and he now has his place in history. And so he ended his career, waiting and wondering if he would get into the Hall of Fame. We'd go from one dugout to the other, our backs pressed against the backstop while we heard the typewriters going in the press box. I was a kid listening on the radio when Blyleven was in his short stint with the Rangers, and I loved his confidence in throwing that curve when everyone in the stadium and listening on the radio knew what was coming. Look again at that list of young big winners. He currently ranks 5th all-time in strikeouts, 9th all-time in shutouts, and 27th all-time in wins. On the second-to-last weekend of the season, the Indian players had a little party to adjourn their kangaroo court. Even alone Blyleven is a terror, whether he's giving a hotfoot, tying clothes in knots, cutting neckties or pulling down McMahon's pants. He missed a second 20-win season that year when he was forced to miss a couple of starts after breaking his foot when joking around in the bullpen. Then he filled out, picked up some speed on his fastball and wowed batters in rookie and A ball. I'm thrilled to see Blyleven in the HOF. Bah! 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. In his last game with the Twins in 1976 before being traded, he made an obscene gesture to the crowd while walking off the mound. Blyleven proceeded to finish Pittsburgh's sweep of Cincinnati in the National League Championship Series, pitching a complete game in the Pirates' 7-1 triumph in Game 3. Julio Franco, who had been arrested the previous winter for possession of a gun without a permit, received a toy pistol. But bleep them. Theres a better factoid, though: Blyleven won 15 different 1-0 complete games, more than anyone else since Walter Johnson. Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA). The house has lots of toys, some for the kids, some for Bert. At least his induction might open the door for more worthy candidates, certainly Jimm Kaat is this mans superior as an MLB pitcher. If anyones curious, heres a list of the most 1-0 CG SHO for post-Walter Johnson pitchers: Nice lead for Blyleven. Despite winning 17 fewer games than he should have in his pre-Pittsburgh years, Blyleven can still claim to be one of only 16 men in the liveball era to win 150 games before turning 30. It showed that of the last 20 guys elected to Cooperstown by the BBWAA (as of then), none had ever received 20 percent or lower of the vote in any election they were up for. He went out and used it to dominate high school hitters, and by age 19 found himself winning 10 games in the major leagues as a rookie for the Minnesota Twins, the start to a career that would last until he was 41. My dad built a mound in the backyard and had a canvas hung behind a horseshoe pit. The only thing Blyleven hates more than pitch counts is the use of . That game happened to feature a. As a player, Blyleven did not have the best reputation. It's one of the hardest things in sports to execute. CLEVELAND'S NETHERLANDS-BORN STAR, PITCHER BERT BLYLEVEN, PUTS HIS PEDAL TO THE METAL ON THE FIELD AND OFF Steve Wulf TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT Bert Blyleven addresses the ball.. Blyleven went on to win the game 2-1, allowing five hits in seven innings and retiring the outsized Howard all three times he faced him. In fact, he never came close. Blyleven has ridden the curve to a career ERA of 3.00. A .264 career batter, Kennedy hit .120 in 25 at bats against Blyleven, collecting three hits while striking out five times. It was this way when hitters faced Blyleven, as former San Diego catcher Terry Kennedy can attest. (Also, Dean Chance? Nice. Bert was an Instructional League Twin at 18 in 1969 and a Pittsburgh playoff winner at 28 in '79. However, ESPN.com columnist Jayson Stark said, "No player has everand again, that word is 'ever'had his Hall of Fame candidacy helped more by the sabermetrics boom than Blyleven. There's the looping 12-6 curveball, which drops off the table just as the hitter thinks he has a read on it. Nice. When he beat the Twins for Texas on July 26, 1976, Blyleven didn't mince words. Richie Scheinblum? The ones better than him who are not in would make legitimate candidates. For instance, in the middle of his careerthe Pirate/Indian yearshe comes out even with the murky third element. Thats doesnt sould too bad. See details. one base to another, like Home To First. Bert Blyleven grew up in Garden Grove, Calif., less than 10 miles from Anaheim Stadium. Neal Heaton got a Gourmet Nosepicker. The Baseball Hall of Shame II first clued me in to some of those stories. Blyleven is rightPhil Seghi looks uncannily like Chief Wahoo. xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle When I first discovered Retrosheet eons ago, the first thing I wanted to do was look at Blylevens run support. You have a half-dozen 300 game winnersGaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton, Don Sutton, Nolan Ryan, and Tom Seaver. Popular categories from this store. See all categories. Actually, given that the park factor was 104, Blylevens run support was nearly league average; 96% of league average to be precise. Poor Terry. Given another five years of success, Blyleven will have Hall of Fame credentials. But he did. (Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) "I always played for my island," Alomar said in his induction speech. He responded with a flippant gesture. [29] During a 2006 broadcast, Blyleven forgot the name of the movie and had to be reminded of it by a technician in the broadcast booth. He generally did better in the second half of the year. Shipping speed. Bert Blyleven Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com Bert Blyleven Position: Pitcher Bats: Right Throws: Right 6-3 , 200lb (190cm, 90kg) Born: April 6, 1951 in Zeist, Netherlands nl More bio, uniform, draft, salary info Hall of Fame 2x All-Star 2x World Series 28 28 28 22 22 22 28 28 Position: Starting Pitcher Bats: Right Throws: Right 6-3, 200lb (190cm, 90kg) . Hey, wait a minute, Francisco, where are you going? 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. Blyleven went to the California Angels in 1989 and pitched a 2.73 ERA for a 175 record in his first season; he led the league for his third and final time in shutouts (5). Roberto Alomar, Pat Gillick and Bert Blyleven on stage during a press conference during the 2011 Hall of Fame Weekend. He says, "Mister Paul and Mister Seghi [Mister?] "But I thought it was kind of nice. He tied for second in the league in wins and was second in winning percentage (.731), third in ERA (2.87) and fourth in strikeouts (170). "We have a beautiful cutlery set. He has always hovered around .500: 10-9, 16-15, 17-17 twice. I have to ask him, 'Bert, what would you throw if you had my stuff?' But nobody really cared. Before the game Blyleven went over to the lineup card and changed the spelling of his name from "Blylevan." For the benefit of those who don't knowand it's quite understandable so don't feel ashamedBlyleven, a right-hander, pitches for the Cleveland Indians. How hard, in miles per hour, a fielder throws the ball. Who the hell wanted this old-timer in the HOF anyways?
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