Bert Blyleven

Bert Blyleven is a guy who gets lost in the crowd when it comes to HoF. He was a pitcher who was on many bad teams and also received poor run support, but still ended up with 287 wins. The next thing people say is that he never won the Cy Young. Well that is true, but he did end up with 3701 K's, 60 shutouts and 254 complete games. Bert also had a 344 Runs Saved Above Average (RSAA) which ranked him 17 all time. He was one of the best guys during his generation and had he not been hurt in 1982 he might have added on those 13 wins he needed to get to 300 and then he would almost automatically make the HoF. Rick at Rick's Beat has a nice article supporting Bert and his HoF bid and is well worth reading.

I remember watching him pitch as a youngster when he was in Cleveland and Minnesota and he was always was a top of the line pitcher. I was much younger back in those days and my ability to evaluate talent might not have been the best, but examing his stats also backs up what I remember. I truly hope he makes the Hall of Fame this year. Good Luck Bert.