Why is Bert Blyleven Not in the Hall of Fame?

As spring training approaches baseball fans are watching ESPN and again hearing talk about steroids. Enough is enough. People are wondering if Mark McGuire will be voted into the Hall of Fame. Others are asking what information will come of the BALCO investigations. Is Barry Bonds guilty?Should they be let in the Hall of Fame if they used steroids? Some say no, other say pitchers are using steroids too and baseball should let the records stand. I wish people would just forget this issue, the steroid stuff has been way overdone. Baseball fans should not worry about the steroid issue, let the courts and lawyers figure that one out. However baseball fans should be asking one question when it comes to the Hall of Fame. Why is Burt Belyleven not in the Hall of Fame?

Every baseball fan I have ever talked to agrees that any pitcher with 3000 strikes outs or 300 wins should be a shoe in to the hall of fame. After all, only 14 men have ever recorded 3000 strikeouts. Blyleven is the only member of the club that is not in the Hall of Fame. He ranks 5th in baseball history on the all time strike-out list with 3701 career strikeouts, only behind Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson. Have you ever heard of those guys?

Blyleven did fail to win 300 games. That feat has only been accomplished by 22 men in baseball history and Blyleven fell just short finishing his career with 287 wins. The fact is he played on several last place teams through out his career. Although he played on several terrible teams he still managed to rack up more career wins than Hall of Fames Jim Palmer, Don Drysdale, Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins and Bob Gibson. As a matter of fact he had more strikeouts than all of those guys too!

Perhaps more impressive than his 3701 career strikeouts or winning 287 games is the endurance he demonstrated over his 22 year major league career. He started 685 games and pitched almost 5000 innings. Blyleven believed a man should finish what he starts and finished his career with an amazing 242 complete games and 60 career shutouts! This is incredible considering Roger Clemens only had 118 complete games and 46 shutouts. Randy Johhson to date only has 97 complete games and 37 shutouts. Gregg Maddux only completed 108 games and had 35 shutouts. Everyone talks about Maddux being one of the best fielders in history and he wins gold gloves almost ever year. It should also be noted that Blyleven retired with a better fielding percentage than Maddux!

He was rookie of the year in 1970 and come back player of the year in 1989. He is one of only three pitchers to have won a major league game before his 20th birthday and after his 40th birthday. This proves he wasn't just hanging on in his later years. He won two world series rings and pitched great in the post season going 5-1 with 2.47 post season ERA. The sports writers should wake up and not punish this man for not doing interviews during his career. Respect his privacy. They already punished him enough only electing him to two all star teams. Many former players also state that he had the best curve ball in history. His numbers state he was comparable to Roger Clemens, Gregg Maddux and better than Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale.

Other notable facts

A 20 game winner

Threw a no hitter- something Roger Clemens has never done

2 time All-Star

3.31 career earned run average

Playing most of his career with poor teams he recorded 15 1-0 wins.