Baseball Hall of Fame: The wait continues for Bert Blyleven
Wait has become a part of Bert Blyleven’s annual sitting in Cooperstown.
In a career that lasted 22 years, Bert gave his life to the Minnesota Twins as a top-form pitcher. The former ace, currently working under the franchise’s wing will be in the waiting line again when the Hall of Fame ballot votes are held.
Blyleven has been in the spotlight for the past 13 years and this year will be his 14th in the wait for the honour that has eluded him for so long.
Blyleven has been creeping up the ladder for the award and in 2009, he made the move to 62 per cent votes. A gradual increment in his climb up to the enshrinement got another push in 2010 when he gained an uplift of a whopping 74.2 per cent votes from the
Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He needs 75 per cent of votes from the judges and 2011 seems to be the year when Bert’s dream will come true. After doing so much for the game, he should not expect anything less.
"Last year, I was surprised that I went from 62 percent to five votes short," Blyleven said in a recent interview from his home in Fort Myers, Florida. "That was very nice. It just means that hopefully this year there will be enough votes to get me inducted
into the Hall of Fame. If that does happen, it will be like icing on the cake for me. I had a pretty big cake throughout my career, but this would be the ultimate."
Blyleven has been consistent in his career and apart from the losses, the player has been categorised as a top performer. Though his credentials do not talk much about him, his rivals do.
Bert won the “American League Cy Young Award” in 1985 with star-like statistics, piling up 206 strikeouts for the Twins that season. Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Palmer spoke about Bert when he received the honour.
"He was just a marvellous player and pitcher - all those innings. He has more wins than I do more shutouts. He has a lot more losses, but I think the shutouts are significant. For Bert, this is bittersweet in that you get so close to 75 percent, but he certainly
belongs in the Hall of Fame. It looks to me that more writers understand that."
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