Bert Blyleven: Hall of Famer!

[Oddball]

NEW YORK -- Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday as part of the Class of 2011, ending a year of anxiety and trepidation for the pair of stellar players.

Alomar was named on 90 percent of the ballots, or 523 of the record 581 cast, good for the third-highest vote total in history. Blyleven was named on 79.7 percent of the ballots, receiving 463 votes. A candidate must receive 75 percent of the vote to gain election. The threshold for election this year was 436 votes. Blyleven and Alomar will become the 294th and 295th members of the Hall of Fame, respectively.

A year ago, the two made history, as Blyleven missed election by five votes and Alomar missed by eight on a ballot in which outfielder Andre Dawson was the only player elected by eligible members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Cooperstown calls for Alomar, Blyleven | MLB.com: News

 

[CrusaderFrank]

He had the best curveball -- ever

 

[Oddball]

Except when it hung...Then, DUCK!

 

[Meister]

I remember Blyleven when he went to Santiago HS in Orange County, Ca. I think he graduated the same year as myself. He was a bigtime name in HS sports. I'm glad to see that he made it to the Hall of Fame.

 

[Oddball]

 

[Revere]

I remember Blyleven when he went to Santiago HS in Orange County, Ca. I think he graduated the same year as myself. He was a bigtime name in HS sports. I'm glad to see that he made it to the Hall of Fame.

And I thought Garden Grove was only famous for Len Dykstra and The Offspring!

 

[Meister]

I remember Blyleven when he went to Santiago HS in Orange County, Ca. I think he graduated the same year as myself. He was a bigtime name in HS sports. I'm glad to see that he made it to the Hall of Fame.

And I thought Garden Grove was only famous for Len Dykstra and The Offspring!

It was also famous for uppers and downers, or maybe that would be infamous for uppers and downers. We used to call Garden Grove, Garbage Gulch, not a pleasant area.

 

[Oddball]

What I remember most from Blyleven in 1986 were not the home runs, not the three shutouts that pushed his career total to 54 (on the way to 60), but the curveball that he threw to complete the game on that June evening in Kansas City.

Kent Hrbek had his first five-hit game and the Twins were leading 4-1 into the bottom of the ninth. Rudy Law singled, George Brett flied out, Jorge Orta singled and Steve Balboni grounded out.

This left runners at second and third and catcher Jim Sundberg at the plate. The count went to 2-2 and Sundberg was hoping that Blyleven might choose to throw a fastball. Instead, Blyleven threw a curve that was headed to Sundberg's chin, causing the veteran catcher to give ground in the righthanded batter's box.

And then this hook, delivered with Blyleven biting softly on his extended tongue, started to move downward and to the left. By the time plate umpire Don Denkinger punched the air for strike three, Sundberg was virtually sitting -- sitting! -- in the dirt of the Royals Stadium batter's box.

<snip>

He will be the fourth to put the Twins hat on the museum's wall, joining the exclusive group of Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett.

And when the statue appears outside Target Field, it will be of a lanky man, left leg stretched, tongue visible, with a curveball about ready to start its twisting journey. For me, it will be a curve headed at Jim Sundberg's chin, and then swoosh, strike three.

Royals won?t forget Blyleven hook | StarTribune.com

 

[Synthaholic]

Congrats to Bert. Great pitcher.

I have no love for Alomar.

 

[Article 15]

Congrats to Bert Blyleven. I wouldn't have voted for you but you're there.

 

[Article 15]

Congrats to Bert. Great pitcher.

I have no love for Alomar.

You don't gotta love Alomar to respect that he's EASILY one of the greatest second basemen of all time. Blyleven was borderling at best.

 

[Revere]

I remember Blyleven when he went to Santiago HS in Orange County, Ca. I think he graduated the same year as myself. He was a bigtime name in HS sports. I'm glad to see that he made it to the Hall of Fame.

And I thought Garden Grove was only famous for Len Dykstra and The Offspring!

It was also famous for uppers and downers, or maybe that would be infamous for uppers and downers. We used to call Garden Grove, Garbage Gulch, not a pleasant area.

I know it well...

 

[Synthaholic]

Congrats to Bert. Great pitcher.

I have no love for Alomar.

You don't gotta love Alomar to respect that he's EASILY one of the greatest second basemen of all time. Blyleven was borderling at best.

Meh. He ain't no Sandberg or Morgan, but he's better than Steve Sax.

 

[Article 15]

Congrats to Bert. Great pitcher.

I have no love for Alomar.

You don't gotta love Alomar to respect that he's EASILY one of the greatest second basemen of all time. Blyleven was borderling at best.

Meh. He ain't no Sandberg or Morgan, but he's better than Steve Sax.

When you gotta bring up names like Sandberg and Morgan to diminish him ....

 

[Article 15]

And the only lifetime stat Sandberg has on Alomar is HRs ... and Alomar was a far superior fielding second basemen.

 

[Synthaholic]

And the only lifetime stat Sandberg has on Alomar is HRs ... and Alomar was a far superior fielding second basemen.

I don't believe that's true.

 

[Article 15]

Sandberg's Stats

Alomar's Stats

 

[Article 15]

And if you are arguing that Sandberg was better defensively than Alomar I am afraid I cannot take that argument seriously.

 

[Synthaholic]

And if you are arguing that Sandberg was better defensively than Alomar I am afraid I cannot take that argument seriously.

As we are both baseball geeks, we are both aware that statistics do not tell the whole story, even though Ryno has a better lifetime fielding percentage.

While Alomar played 4 full seasons in the N.L. (out of 17 total), and also for Toronto, he generally played more games on natural grass. Yes, Sandberg played half his games on Wrigley's grass, but playing his entire career in the N.L., he dealt with more artificial surfaces of varying speeds.

Taking that into consideration, look at some of those stats.

Range factor - Career
Ryno: 32nd
Alomar: 91st

Fielding % - Career
Ryno: 8th
Alomar: 42nd

Errors - Career
Ryno: 120 (? - they don't have this for Sandberg, for some reason)
Alomar: 181 (79th)

Like I said, stats aren't everything, but clearly Alomar is not hands-down a better defensive player than Ryno. I have an excellent reference book out in the garage, and may look into it more tomorrow.

Regardless of defensive stats, Ryno was the superior major leaguer. His legendary consistency, even temperament (he never spit in an umpire's face, for example), leadership, batting, power, arm, DP prowess, and overall in-the-game knowledge ranks him higher than almost any other second baseman in history. Only Morgan is comparable.

Oh, and Morgan's numbers for those three categories I listed?

Range: 34th,
Fielding %: 78th,
Errors: 50th (244!!!)

ALL worse than Ryno!

 

[Jeremy]

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