I am 58 and originally from L.A. I became a Dodgers fan at 7. I love Baseball and think it is the ultimate game of chess in sports. The strategy changes on every pitch, total instinct, to hit a round ball with a round bat coming at 90 miles an hour it takes incredible instincts, no playbooks or planned strategy. Having said that I think Bert Blyleven belongs in the HOF there are plenty of pitchers in there with less stats than his, check the HOF before 1960. I also think Tommy John belongs my goodness he tried an experimental operation that prolonged his career and is the benchmark operation for pitchers today who have elbow or forearm problems. Sandy Koufax was a great pitcher, the best lefthander of his time, maybe, but his stats pale to Bert's, he threw 4 no hitters and had the great record in a short period of time, and is in the HOF. There are players before the 60's who don't come close to the players since in stats or longevity and their in the Hall, you have to look at the big picture. Babe Ruth in his time was bigger than life, he was an alcoholic and womanizer, Ty Cobb was a bastard and the dirtiest player in the game, Grover Cleveland was an alcoholic, movies have been made that portray these greats as way less than model citizens or role models and there in the Hall. During their time these traits were acceptable because of their celebrity status and they were revered. Point is Baseball more than any other sport has gone through eras that have not always been good, but have produced illustious stories, great players, and outrageous characters. The dead ball era, the live ball era, the pitchers era, the steroid era, they all have and will produce people who are deserving of being in the Hall, if character is truely part of it, than alot of players from before the 50's and 60's don't deserve to be there. Keeping Bert Blyleven, Fred Mc Griff, Andre Dawson, Jack Morris, Tommy John and even the greatest hitter and player of all time Pete Rose out of the Hall is a tragedy. We are all human and make mistakes and even criminals get second chances. There are alot of players in the Hall who don't match up to todays writers or voters character standards, or the stats of some, but there are some in there who really probably don't belong. There are players from the last 20 or 30 years that aren't perfect or have better careers and stats who aren't in and should be. In the begining there were some who made it because that was the best they had, compared to todays players and stats they should'nt be in, there are alot of players today who should be in and aren't. In closing to keep players from the steroid ers out of the Hall is wrong, if they have NOT been convicted of anything you can't judge them on supposition, if their career achievments warrent induction they should be in, that goes for any player, after all Baseball condoned the steroid era from 1994 on until Congress stepped in. The players shouldn't be penalized for doing what they were allowed and encoureged to do. When Selig cancelled the World Series in 1994 over a labor dispute he needed something to bring Baseball back to the forefront why not the ultimate live ball [steroid] era. The powers at be let this happen for the so called good of the game, don't blame some players who may have taken advantage. There are alot of guys who are in the Hall who cheated one way or another spit ballers come to mind and all knew and didn't catch them or didn't try hard enough. Bert and alot others belong in the Hall it's time to stop the petty jelouses and he didn't talk to me stuff and put them in even Mr. Rose.

If the bar was set by Jim Ed last year. I don't see why Bert hasn't been elected long before now!

A pitcher who only averaged 13 wins per year and with only a .534 lifetime winning percentage (that's really, really mediocore at best) and who wasn't as good as Luis Tiant, Tommy John, or Ron Guidry (all the aces of their staffs and the creme of the crop during the same time period--none of whom are Hall of Famers) should not be in the Hall of Fame. Bert Blyleven was never, ever considered a "great" pitcher. He was a nice #3 pitcher most of his career. Would anyone consider Carlos Zambrano a Hall of Fame pitcher? Because that's basically who Bert Blyleven was in his era!

Bert Blyleven has two world series rings, check out his self written article with his stats on MSNBC and educate yourself with his number's and how they compare with the HOF pitchers, you will be surprised.The HOF voting is a popularuty contest with many of the writers voting for players they never saw but just evaluating number's.

and another thing, what about Jack Morris and his 3 world series wins, he was nasty too.

The Hall of Fame is a joke, but if a career .262 hitting short stop makes it on the 1st ballot because he can do a back flip and catch a lot of ground balls hit on artificial turf, then the 5th leading strike out pitcher of all time certainly belongs.

I am not a baseball expert, but I have to say that he made a good case.

I agree w/ every word of Blyleven's article. The only thing he missed is his curve ball. I am 59 yrs old and I have never seen a sharper-breaking curve ball thrown w/ command than Blyleven's. And he threw it over many yrs. Shutouts, complete games, strikeouts; it's all there. Blyleven is clearly missing something w/o the Hall of Fame, but the HOF is missing something w/o Blyleven. Now's the time to fix the errors of the past and admit Blyleven!

Bert should be a hands-down HOF member. When he retired he was 3rd in strikeouts, all-time. That alone should have been enough for HOF induction. Now he is 5th, with just Ryan and Clemens passing him since that time. And look at some of Bert's numbers in the early 70s -- 25 complete games and 9 shutouts in 1973. 242 career compete games. Insane numbers. Unfortunately, he only got to pitch for 2 or 3 winning teams.

Somehow Blyleven rubbed some writers the wrong way, or he would have been in a decade ago. Time for Bert to be inducted!

One word........Curveball

One word gets him in.....CURVEBALL

Compare Dave Parker's stats to anyone on the ballot and see who REALLY should be voted in. Great stats and imposing figure.

Bert, you should have been in the HOF a long time ago! Circle me Bert!!! I admit I am a fan of yours but your record tells it all. I hope you make it this time.

Why isn't Bert Blyeven in the Hall. Thats the question that needs to be asked. His curve ball had many hitters breaking their legs. He is in the top 5 of strikeouts. Also it is not his fault that he played on bad teams. How many wins did his bad team cost him. They don't punishgood hitters on bad teams so why punish pitchers on bad teams. If the stats show that they deserve the Hall, then do right and stop playing this game of bad or good teams. The Hall is an individual thing. Once again, Bert has been robbed for a long time.

A few seasons ago, I carried a sign in various stadiums from Seattle to Baltimore promoting Bert's admission to the HOF. Many fans would question me about his stats (especially in Yankee Stadium) and after I laid out many of the facts cited in Bert's article, not one fan in any stadium disagreed with the fact that he deserves admission to the HOF.

It's really a case of coastal bias against the mid-country, middle and small market teams. This is one of several factors that's killing baseball.

Bert, you absolutely belong in the HOF! Here's hoping this is your year. Regardless, you're one of the best pitchers that ever played, and a character in the truest sense of the word. I was at the Metrodome the night you were inducted into the Twins' HOF and it was an honor. Looking forward to watching the Twins play in the new stadium this year, and enjoying your TV broadcasts of the games.

How well I remember listening to the Twins on radio in Bert's rookie season. Either Ray Scott or Herb Carneal was talking about Bert's talent with Halsey Hall (the Twin's wonderfully comic reporter-turned-color-man). When asked what kind of potential he saw in Blyleven, Halsey replied that he saw the 19-year-old in the Hall of Fame someday. I think that it's time for Halsey's prediction to come true.

MMMM???  Lets see if I read this right, you should be in the HOF because you have no control over your wins or loses but yet, you noted that you were part of two World Series teams.  How much control did you have on getting your team to the World Series.   I'm sure it was due to a great team effort.  Sorry Bert, you need to wait.  

No one will deny that Nolan Ryan deserves HOF status, myself included, but if you look at his career stats they are very similar to BB's. Ryan averaged 14 wins a season over 27 yrs., Blyeven averaged 14 over 22 yrs. Ryan had 61 sho's, Blyeven had 60 sho's. Ryan lost 292 games, Blyeven lost 250. Career ERA's are similar and Blyeven has a better post-season record. The only WS Ryan pitched in was with the '69 Mets for 2 innings. So does Nolan Ryan not deserve to be in the HOF or does Bert Blyeven deserve to be in?

Put Bert in the HOF!