| Bert Blyleven | |
|---|---|
 Blyleven with the Minnesota Twins in 1987 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1951-04-06)April 6, 1951 (age 74) Zeist, Netherlands | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 5, 1970, for the Minnesota Twins | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 4, 1992, for the California Angels | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 287–250 |
| Earned run average | 3.31 |
| Strikeouts | 3,701 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 2011 |
| Vote | 79.7% (14th ballot) |
Rik Aalbert Blyleven (bornBlijleven, April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseballpitcher and color commentator. He played 22 seasons inMajor League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with theMinnesota Twins, and from 1996 to 2020 was acolor commentator for Minnesota Twins television broadcasts. Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, thefifth-most in MLB history. He won 287 games, 27th-mostall-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-mostall-time. A renownedcurveball pitcher, Blyleven was a two-timeAll-Star andWorld Series champion. In2011, Blyleven was inducted into theBaseball Hall of Fame.
Blyleven made his major league debut at age 19 for the Twins. In the middle of the 1976 season, he was traded to theTexas Rangers, where he threw a no-hitter in his final start for the team. He won his first World Series with thePittsburgh Pirates in 1979. Upon being traded to theCleveland Indians, Blyleven initially struggled with injuries, but then enjoyed a late-career resurgence, finishing third in theCy Young Award voting in back-to-back years, with Cleveland in 1984 and in 1985, a season split between the Indians and Twins. During his second stint with Minnesota, Blyleven became the tenth member of the3,000-strikeout club in 1986 and won a secondWorld Series title in 1987. He played three seasons for theCalifornia Angels before retiring.
Blyleven became the first Dutch-born player to earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the pitching coach for theNetherlands in severalWorld Baseball Classic tournaments.[1]
Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born inZeist, a town inUtrecht, Netherlands, the son of Johannes Cornelius and Jannigje Blijleven. His family moved toMelville, Saskatchewan when Blyleven was two years old before ultimately settling inGarden Grove, California in 1957 when Blyleven was five years old. One of seven children, his parentsanglicized their own names to Joe and Jenny, with Rik Aalbert becoming "Bert".[2][3]
Blyleven became interested in baseball as a young boy watchingSandy Koufax pitch for theLos Angeles Dodgers and listening toVin Scully andJerry Doggett announce the Dodgers' radio broadcasts. Blyleven later said, "My dad built me a mound in the backyard with a canvas backdrop over our horseshoe pits, and I would go back there and just throw and throw and throw until I developed it, and it became my curveball. And I could throw it over at any time, any count."[4]
Blyleven starred on theSantiago High School baseball team in Garden Grove, alsorunning cross country to build up his stamina and leg strength. TheMinnesota Twins drafted him out of high school in the third round, with the 55th selection in the1969 Major League Baseball draft.[5] After just 21 minor league starts, the Twins called him up to the majors at age 19 on June 2, 1970. In his first season, his sharp curveball helped him to 10 wins, and he was namedAmerican League (AL)Rookie Pitcher of the Year byThe Sporting News. In 1973, he pitched nine shutouts, the most of any AL pitcher that season.[6]
However, Blyleven's early career with the Twins was not always pleasant, as he was hounded by critics and fans.[7] He clashed with Twins ownerCalvin Griffith over his $65,200 salary and refused to sign a contract with the team for the1976 season.[8] The Twins traded him along withDanny Thompson to theTexas Rangers forRoy Smalley III,Mike Cubbage,Bill Singer, andJim Gideon on June 1, 1976.[9] The deal was set in motion when Blyleven agreed with the Rangers on a three-year, $550,000 contract two days earlier.[8]
Blyleven pitched well with the Rangers, posting a 2.74 ERA in fewer than two seasons. On September 22, 1977, just two weeks after being sidelined with a groin injury, Blylevenno-hit theCalifornia Angels 6–0.[10] The no-hitter was his final start as a Ranger; not untilCole Hamels during the 2015 season would a pitcher be traded after pitching a no-hitter in his most recent start for the team that traded him. His 2.74 ERA with Texas is one of the lowest in franchise history.[11]
Following an incident in which Blyleven blatantly gavethe finger to a television camera obviously focused on him during one of the Rangers' rare nationally broadcast games,[12] he was dealt to thePittsburgh Pirates in the first four-team blockbuster deal in MLB history on December 8, 1977, that also involved theAtlanta Braves,New York Mets and 11 players changing teams. The Pirates also acquiredJohn Milner from the Mets. The Rangers receivedAl Oliver andNelson Norman from the Pirates andJon Matlack from the Mets.Adrian Devine,Tommy Boggs andEddie Miller were traded from the Rangers to the Braves. The Mets gotWillie Montañez from the Braves andTom Grieve andKen Henderson from the Rangers. Henderson was sent to New York to complete the transaction three months later on March 15, 1978.[13][14] With the Pirates, Blyleven led the team in ERA, strikeouts, and complete games in1978, and he helped them to aWorld Series victory in1979. His 20no decisions in 1979 are the most by an MLB starting pitcher in a season from 1908 to 2018.[15] (Ryne Stanek, a reliever who worked as an opener, had more no decisions in both 2018 and 2019, and starterZach Davies matched Blyleven's mark in 2022.[16])
Blyleven became disgruntled with the Pirates and threatened to retire during the1980 season if he was not traded.[17] The Pirates traded him to theCleveland Indians on December 9, 1980. Blyleven sat out most of the1982 season with an elbow injury and struggled again in1983, but he came back in1984 with one of his best seasons: a 19–7 record with a 2.87 ERA. He missed a second 20-win season that year when he was forced to miss a couple of starts after breaking his foot after slipping on a baseball while running.[18][19] In1985, he again led the American League in shutouts with five. That year, he pitched293+2⁄3 innings and completed 24 games, feats of endurance no pitcher has matched since.[20] Blyleven was unhappy playing for the lackluster Indians and forced a trade back to the Twins on August 1, 1985.[21] With Minnesota, he passed the 3,000-strikeout mark[22] and helped the team win the1987 World Series.
Blyleven's first two full seasons back with the Twins produced major league records for home runs allowed in a single season (50)[23] and in consecutive seasons (96). He never surrendered more than 24 home runs in any year before or after the 1986 and 1987 seasons. He finished his career with 430 home runs allowed, ninth most in MLB history. This was partly due to his longevity, as he allowed a home run to 2.1 percent of batters faced, only slightly above the MLB average during his career.[24][25]
The Twins traded Blyleven and Kevin Trudeau to theCalifornia Angels before the1989 season forPaul Sorrento,Mike Cook, and Rob Wassenaar.[26][27] Blyleven had a 2.73 ERA and 17–5 record in his first season close to his hometown. He led the league for his third and final time in shutouts (5). Blyleven missed the entire1991 season followingrotator cuff surgery. He came back in1992 but was mostly unproductive, going 8–12 with a 4.74 ERA in his final MLB season. He signed again with the Twins in early1993[28] but did not make theopening day roster and retired.[2] He also pitched for the MLB All-Stars, a team of mostly minor league players, in theWorld Port Tournament inRotterdam in the summer of 1993.[29] That July, he became a roving pitching instructor for the Angels.[30][31]
Blyleven had a career 287–250 record with 3,701 strikeouts and a 3.31 ERA. He ranks fifth in MLB history in strikeouts and is ninth with 60 shutouts and 430 home runs allowed and 14th in innings pitched with 4,970.[25] He has the seventh most careerwins above replacement among pitchers according toFanGraphs and 14th most according toBaseball Reference.[32][33]Hall of Famethird basemanBrooks Robinson said of Blyleven: "[his curveball] was nasty, I'll tell you that. Enough to make your knees buckle. Bert was a terrific pitcher—a dominating pitcher."[34]
Blyleven was a pitching coach forthe Netherlands in the2009 World Baseball Classic.[35] He returned to that role for the2013,2017, and2023 tournaments.[1][36]
After his first year ofBaseball Hall of Fame eligibility in 1998, Blyleven was widely considered to be the best eligible pitcher not yet enshrined. According toMatt Welch ofReason Magazine, "there had long been a strong case that the Dutch-born curveballista was the most deserving player on the outside ofCooperstown looking in."[37] Still, it was not until his 14th year of eligibility, in2011, that he was elected; he received 79.7% of the vote. He currently[update] ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts, ninth in shutouts, and 27th all-time in wins. At the time of his election, he was the only eligible member of the3,000 strikeout club and the only pitcher with 50 or more shutouts not in the Hall of Fame.
Blyleven received only 17.6% of the vote for Hall of Fame admission in1998 (his first year of eligibility), and his vote total dropped to 14.1% in1999. No player who had debuted on the ballot since 1970 had a vote total that low and later won election to the Hall. However,ESPN.com columnistJayson Stark said, "No player has ever—and again, that word is 'ever'—had his Hall of Fame candidacy helped more by thesabermetrics boom than Blyleven."[38] Specifically, according to Welch, "the president and chief investment officer of Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel inLong Beach, California, a guy by the name of Rich Lederer, began spending some of his off-hours writing analysis on the Interwebs about Blyleven's overlooked case."[37]
By2006, his total had increased to 53.3%. In2007, Blyleven's total dipped to 47.7% (75% is the minimum required for admission to the Hall). In2008, he received 336 votes, or 61.9% of the vote.[39] In2009, he gained only two votes, for a total of 338, 62.7%. In2010, Blyleven had 74.2% of the votes, missing admission to the Hall of Fame by only 5 votes (0.8%).[40]
Blyleven was inducted to the Hall of Fame in2011 after receiving 79.7% of the vote on his 14th attempt.[41] "It's been 14 years of praying and waiting," he said on a conference call. "I thank thebaseball writers of America for, I'm going to say, finally getting it right."[4] Blyleven was the first Dutch-born player inducted.[42] His Hall of Fame plaque depicts him with a Minnesota Twins cap.
Blyleven was inducted into theMinnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2002[43] and was selected by fans to the "All-Metrodome Team" on July 28, 2009.[44] On July 16, 2011, the Twins retired Blyleven's number.[45][46]
In 2020, sportswriterJoe Posnanski ranked Blyleven at number 71 onThe Athletic's "Baseball 100" list.[47]
In1996, Blyleven became a televisioncolor commentator for the Twins, calling games forWCCO-TV and Midwest Sports Channel (laterFox Sports North). Blyleven's commentary was occasionally risqué for a baseball broadcast but provided interesting and friendly conversation between him and play-by-play announcerDick Bremer.
One of his trademarks was circling fans with thetelestrator on screen. Fans, both at home and at road games, carried signs to the games saying "Circle me Bert". This led to a fundraising campaign with theParkinson's Foundation and a sponsorship with theMinnesota Lottery.[48][42] When announcing partner Bremer attempted to circle fans with the telestrator, he drew geometric forms that were non-circular, and Blyleven and fans started to jostle Bremer with phrases like "Rhombus me, Dick" or "Triangle me, Dick".[49]
On September 3, 2006, Blyleven accidentally used two profanities on air during a game against theNew York Yankees because he believed the broadcast was being taped rather than aired live.FSN North suspended Blyleven five games for the incident, stating: "Bert would never do this intentionally. Having said that, there are consequences for our actions, and we feel this is an appropriate consequence."[50]
On September 2, 2020, Blyleven broadcast his final game for the Twins.[51][52] He became a special assistant for the Twins.[42][53]
Blyleven resides inFort Myers, Florida as of 2017[update].[54]
Blyleven became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[55]
Blyleven's son Todd pitched inMinor League Baseball from 1993 to 1997 and later worked as a scout for theArizona Diamondbacks andColorado Rockies.[56][31] Todd later was present at the2017 Las Vegas shooting, helping others to safety.[54]
Blyleven appeared as himself in the 1990James Belushi filmTaking Care of Business.[57] During a 2006 broadcast, Blyleven forgot the name of the movie and had to be reminded of it by a technician in the broadcast booth.
Blyleven was a notorious dugout pranksters as a player. He earned the moniker "Frying Dutchman" by frequently setting fire to his teammates' shoelaces, a practical joke known as a "hot foot".[58][2] During his time with the Angels, the fire extinguisher in the team's clubhouse atAngel Stadium read: "In case of Blyleven: Pull".
Blyleven did not know his correct name until he was about to get married. He had thought all his life his given name was "Rikaalbert". He learned that his name actually was Rik Aalbert Blijleven after obtaining a copy of his birth certificate in order to get married.[59]
| Category | W | L | PCT | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | ER | R | HR | BB | K | WP | HBP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 287 | 250 | .534 | 3.31 | 692 | 685 | 242 | 60 | 0 | 4970 | 4632 | 1830 | 2029 | 430 | 1322 | 3701 | 114 | 155 |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | No-hitter pitcher September 22, 1977 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
