Bert Blyleven earns the Hall of Fame honour in 14th attempt
The race to the Hall of Fame has ended, and for two lucky inductees in the class of 2011, the moment could not have come sooner. Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven made the honours when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America
declared the ballot results. Needing 75% of the votes to progress to the class, the two former players trumped on a legendary run to the accolade.
Alomar became the third Puerto Rican to make the class after Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Clemente. The player who amassed most of his years with the Toronto Blue Jays got a call from the judging committee when the results came out.
For Bert Blyleven, the experience was not different. The veteran pitcher who played most of his years for the Minnesota Twins finally got the call from the ballot after 14 years of waiting. The call from Cooperstown depicted a
79.7% voting result for the ball player and showed his strength in numbers. The hall of fame nomination can last 15 years for any player and the honour bumps the names off if the athlete is not picked in the following 15 years.
On the other hand, players who qualify must keep their votes above 5% each year to remain in the pursuit for the honour. For Blyleven, the run for the hall of fame has been a long one in history. Last year, the classy pitcher missed
the chance to move onto the 2010 class by just 5 votes. Blyleven was ready to talk about the achievement when he was confronted by the reporters. He is a broadcaster with the Twins now and he was not deterred to speak his mind.
"I'll just say the last name is Blyleven and its 2011. The writers just decided, 'Hey, that would be a good year for him to go in," quipped Blyleven. "It's been frustrating over the years. I can tell you that the last week my wife
and I have been pretty nervous."
Blyleven played with the Twins for 10 seasons. He started off with the team in 1970, playing just six seasons. He later returned to the club played with the roster in the 1987 World Series.
"The Hall of Fame decides what hat I wear," said Blyleven. "I'm just very fortunate to now be one of the elite members of the Hall of Fame. It's their decision, but hopefully it'll be the Minnesota Twins."
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