And I'll say right up front, as a huge Twins and Blyleven fan, that Bert Blyleven should not have made it. While he was playing, no one ever considered him to be amongst the top 10 pitchers at virtually any time. No one ever went to a game primarily to see him pitch. You would not have traded him straight up for Jack Morris, Frank Viola, Ron Guidry, or any of a dozen other pitchers who were playing but not in the HOF. He was good, not great. He does not belong.
Whoops - shouldn’t have put that into “breaking news”. Sorry.
I would not have put Blyleven in the HoF. BUT, I would certainly pay to see him pitch, when his breaking ball was right, no one’s broke more.
P.S. I’m a Dodger fan who thinks Sutton got in out of mere longevity. At his peak he was the #3 man in the rotation (behind Brth Ooten and Tommy John). When John went free agent, Sutcliffe, not Sutton, took the #2 spot. Bob Welch spent some time there, too.
The Four relievers who are currently in the Hall of Fame are Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, and Dennis Eckersley.....Bruce Sutter’s split finger fast ball had to be one of the most difficult pitches in history to hit.
When I was a pitcher I most wanted to be the Goose, chaw and all.
* Cheater.
Congrats to Goose. Never a big fan but he was dominant back when closers might pitch two or more innings, not just the final three outs.
The stat-geeks have turned their love for Blyleven into some sort of Ron-Paul-like crusade. He was a very good pitcher for a very long time but the voters have been pretty consistent when it comes to Blyleven, Tommy John and Jim Kaat. If you put in one, you should put in the other two.
congrats from a lifetime yankee fan, next year sure first ballot entry: rickey henderson.
Sorry Roger....don’t even bother applying.
Nah...Blyleven belongs. He was vastly underrated.
Agree about Rice. Guess the lack of a championship ring hurts him. No question he was a dominant player of his decade.
I still say Dale Murphy should be in. :-)
It's interesting to note that when Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan were in their late 30's they basically had the same stats and Blyleven could make a case for the Hall Of Fame. But then of course Ryan took off and the rest is history.
One player I like who never gets enough attention is Dave Concepcion. He was a pretty good hitter for a SS and he started the whole concept of the bounce throw from deep in the hole to first base by throwing a bounce-throw to 1B.