Hall of Fame Poll: Bert Blyleven

by Tom Dakers on Nov 30, 2009 12:00 PM EST in Fun

One of the most interesting choices on the ballot, Bert Blyleven is on there for the 13th time. If he isn't elected this year, he has two more shots at it, then maybe the veteran's committee. If he were to go in, he'd be the first player born in the Netherlands to make the Hall.

He won 287 games in a 22 year career. Are we ever going to see a pitcher win 287 games again? He completed 242 of his 685 career starts, we will never see that again. In 1971 at 20 years old he completed 17 starts, 1973 he completed 25 games. In 1985 at 34 years old he completed 24 games. To compare, Roy Halladay led the AL with 9 complete games last year. He is 5th on the all-time strikeout list and 28th in wins.

But then, those that don't vote for him point to the 250 losses, 10th on the career list. No Cy Young awards, he never even finished second in the voting. Only 2 All-Star game appearances. He never led the league in ERA, but was in the top 10 ten times. He really didn't lead the league in much in any season of his long career, innings pitched a couple of times and strikeout to walk rate three times.

He is one of those that you have to decide if you think being good for a long career is more worthy of the Hall than being great for a shorter period.

He got 62.7% of the vote last year, so came up just short of being elected. Maybe this will be his year.

Poll

Would you vote Bert Blyleven into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Yes

151 votes

No

31 votes

182 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Oh, this is a toughie

He’s got a lot of mediocre seasons but with a decent ERA in most of them. He’s got a couple of really good season too.

On the whole, I’m going to downplay the losses and vote him in.

by siggian on Nov 30, 2009 2:50 PM EST reply actions

I think having a consistantly good career with a couple of brilliant years is enough to define you as an elite player. Especially considering the standards of the Hall. Put Blyleven on a decent hitting team for more than a couple of years, he’s likely 325+ wins and 40- losses, which would be a free ballot guy. His only really shaky stat I think are the homeruns, but not enough to keep him out.

by dexfarkin on Nov 30, 2009 3:34 PM EST up reply actions