Shame on you.Shame on you, baseball writers.
That we're mere days ahead of the announcement of Hall of Fame inductees for 2010 and Bert Blyleven is not already in the Hall is shameful.
Thanks to Baseball Reference, we can see where Blyleven falls on the all-time pitching lists, but we can also see where he lands on the list of Hall of Fame pitchers.
There are 68 pitchers in all. Six of those were elected primarily because of their status as a relief pitcher. We can subtract Babe Ruth as well who got into the Hall due to his...what was it... managerial record?
That brings us down to 61 starters. How does Blyleven fare? Pretty well.
Wins: at 287, only 20 pitchers have more wins and they all have at least 300.
Starts: with 685, only seven pitchers appeared on the bump at the beginning of a game more often.
Shut outs: 60--Blyleven is 9th all-time, 9th on the list of Hall-of-Famers. Come on. Only eight more pitchers in the history of the sport walked off the mound at the end of a game having given up no runs over an entire game. Come on.
Innings: Blyleven comes in at number 13.
Strike outs. Strike outs indeed! Perhaps the most incredible statistic in Blyleven's defense. At 3,701, Blyleven is 5th on the all-time list. When he retired he was third and he's still third when comparing him to the Hall-of-Famers. Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens are the two yet to be eligible.
Blyleven has amassed more strikeouts than 59 other Hall-of-Fame starting pitchers and he's not in the Hall of Fame.
Critics point to Blyleven's winning percentage: .534. True, Blyleven lost a lot of games, 250 to be exact, "good" enough for 10th on the all-time list, 9th on the list of Hall-of-Famers. Whereas the average Hall-of-Famer won 58.9% of his decisions, he has good company in a few very good pitchers: Gaylord Perry (.542), Robin Roberts (.539), Phil Neikro (.537), Nolan Ryan (.526).
Blyleven gets a bad rap regarding home runs given up. In a couple of seasons late in his career, he gave up 96 homers in 538 2/3 innings. In fact, he still holds the single-season record (50). However, the truth is, Blyleven was stingy with homeruns for much of his career. In six seasons, one of those coming after those two weird seasons, he finished in the top ten stingiest.
Blyleven's 3.31 ERA is higher than most. Again, though, he has some good recent company toward the bottom of the list: Jenkins (3.34) and Neikro (3.35).
Add to Blyleven's credentials two World Series rings (Pirates, Twins), and he pitched well in both (2-1, 2.35 ERA).
Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall of Fame. Best wishes for a fruitful 2010, Bert Blyleven!
