Bert Blyleven is generally considered the best pitcher not in the Hall of Fame, and a lot has been written about his Hall of Fame chances. And when this year's HoF inductees are announced later today, we'll see if the BBWAA agrees with those who make the argument that he belongs. Blyleven has been eligible for the Hall since 1998, but the highest percentage of votes he has received has been 62.7% (75% is needed for induction).
Yet Blyleven has fared well with other groups of knowledgeable baseball writers. True Blue LA recently announced the HoF picks of the SB Nation baseball bloggers, and Blyleven received 92.3% of their vote. And the IBWAA gave Blyleven 88% of its vote.
Will the past catch up with the present for Bert? Will the BBWAA join the modern thinking in this new decade? Will they ever learn to spell "baseball" as one word? At least two of those questions should be answered today.
UPDATE: Dawson earns long-awaited Hall call: Alomar, Larkin, Blyleven fall short in BBWAA voting (MLB.com)
3 comments:
I'd vote for Bert. He's only 13 wins off the coveted 300 win mark, and he more than makes up for that with his strikeout total. If he had those 13 wins there'd be no question. But why do 13 wins determine one's place in history? Blyleven was a dominant pitcher, and had some of his best seasons at both the beginning and end of his career.
Sorry Bert - The hawk is in!
@MLASF-
And he was only 13 off that benchmark despite playing for some crummy-ass teams. I heard someone talking about if you added in one-run games he'd be well over the mark. If is a big word, but still.
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