Making The Case For Bert Blyleven

Every year about this time I find myself scratching my head and wondering why Bert Blyleven has been once again bypassed by Hall Of Fame voters. A look at Bert's body of work leaves no question in my mind about his worthiness as a Hall Of Famer. For those of you not familiar with Blyleven's track record let me present his case. Blyleven has 287 career victories. That is more wins than current H.O.F.ers like Bob Feller, Fergie Jenkins, and Robin Roberts. In fact there are dozens of pitchers already in the Hall with fewer wins than Blyleven. He ranks 5th on the all time strike-out list with 3,701 (3rd all-time among right handers). He ranks 9th all time in shut-outs with 60, ahead of Hall members like Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Jim Palmer. His 242 complete games rank him ahead of legends like Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, and Nolan Ryan. Throw into the mix that he is 11th all time in career starts and 14th all time in innings pitched and it is hard to figure his difficulty in getting the necessary votes. How is it that Bert can outrank so many Hall Of Famers in so many significant categories and still be overlooked time after time? Just the fact that his name can be mentioned in the same sentence over and over with players like Ryan, Feller, Gibson, Carlton, and Seaver speaks volumes in my book. Blyleven has 2 more chances to get into the Hall and I think justice would be served if he gets elected. Unfortunately for Bert, nothing on his resume will change between now and next year, and inexplicably it hasn't been good enough thus far. Blyleven had the nastiest curve ball that I have ever seen, but for now it's the Baseball Writers' Association of America that is throwing the curves.