Thursday, December 29, 2005
And Again...
We Twins fans have been preaching it for years and I'm sure we've heard it all before, but Jim Caple has put together a nice write-up on why Bert Blyleven belongs in the Hall of Fame. With no major players being introduced for the first time on the ballot this year, I think it might happen this time. I certainly hope so.
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3 comments:
This year, as evident by the weak class of 2006, is Bert's big chance. Blyleven, Gossage, Sutter, Rice, Dawson, Smith, and Morris may all have better chances this year. Morris will probably still be held back by his 3.90 ERA. Thats unfortunate, because he won the most games in the 80s for the Tigers (in a known hitters park) and lead both the Twins and the Blue Jays to championships. Bert is an much easier case. Like Morris, he was a huge innings eater, but he also was a dominant pitcher. The big case against him is that he didn't win 300 games, never had a second 20-win season, and never was the best pitcher in the league. Sure, that may be true, but Bert also never pitched in a pitcher's park and spent most of his career on awful teams. And he still won 287. Plus, he was great when he made it to the postseason, winning two world championships. Oh, yea, and he of course has 60 shutouts (9th all-time) and 3,771 strikeouts, behind Johnson, Carlton, Clemens, and Ryan. Thats some very good company. Blyleven's numbers are only comparable to guys already in the hall, so its pretty pathetic on the part of voters to keep him out. This is just another classic example of why wins are overrated. Just as Clemens and Santana did not get a fair chance at winning the Cy Young this year after being the dominant pitchers in their respective leagues, Blyleven gets the stigma because he wasnt a "winner." Just like Gossage "only" had 310 saves. It was a different game and mediocre closers like Billy Koch weren't getting 44 saves. Nope, guys like Gossage threw 100 innings and struck out more guys than some starters. Gossage was the Rivera or Gagne for the 80s and he too deserves to be in. Those are just a few guys who don't deserve to be left out. Dawson and Rice are different stories. Just like Gossage gets hurt by the new role for relievers, Rice and Dawson got hurt by the steroid age. And its unfortunate that the Hall of Famers suddenly don't feel like taking that into context. They certainly did with deadball era players.
Nick N.: Thanks for commenting at my site. I appreciate your readership. Send me an e-mail, so that I can get your address.
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