Bert Blyleven, A Great Hall of Famer

Great news yesterday. In his 14th year of eligibility, former Pirates pitcher and 1979 World Champion Bert Blyleven is a Hall of Famer.

This is one of many sites that championed Blyleven's candidacy. Even though few or no voters read my posts, similar posts on hundreds of sites add up. Blyleven's vote percentages mirrored the sheer number of sites like this one, increasing from 14% in 1999 to 80% in 2000. Mainstream media analysis has evolved from silly throwaway excuses such as "he didn't feel like a Hall of Famer when he was playing" to a real analysis of the player's qualifications. And Blyleven's are superb: 287 wins, a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 3701 strikeouts (ninth all time) - all accomplished with what was probably the most devastating curveball of all time.

The erstwhile ace of the 1979 World Champions, Blyleven won two games that postseason and allowed only three runs in 19 innings. As he did so many times that season, when he went 12-5 in 37 starts, he pitched brilliantly in a no decision in World Series Game 2, later won by Pittsburgh. Summoned from the bullpen a few days later, trailing 1-0 and facing elimination in Game 5, he shut down the powerful Orioles for four innings for the win.

Bert was seldom happy during his days in Pittsburgh from 1978 to 1980. He liked to pitch the entire game, and manager Chuck Tanner allowed him to complete only 20 of 103 starts during three seasons. Before and after his tenure, he had single years when he completed over 20.

Blyleven joins the hall of fame at least a decade too late. But the fact that he was so undervalued helped the teams he played for during his career, all of whom were able to acquire the righthander without giving fair value. He cost the Pirates good-but-not-great left fielder Al Oliver, but Oliver was the only player ever swapped for Bert Blyleven who was even remotely close in talent level. Sadly, Pittsburgh dumped him after the 1980 season for a collection of scrubs, none of whom lasted over a year here. He would win 131 more games in other uniforms.

Congratulations to Bert Blyleven on receiving baseball's highest honor.

Parker Falls Short
That 1979 Pirates team now boasts two Hall of Famers, with Willie Stargell joining Bert Blyleven. But neither was the best player on the team - that honor belonged to Dave Parker, a true five tool talent who was pretty clearly the best player in the league from 1975 to 1979. During his five year peak, Baseball Reference figures that Parker was worth 30.1 wins to his teams. Yet he could muster only 15% of the votes in this, his final year on the ballot.

Parker was merely good for most of the rest of his career (six more 90 RBI seasons after he left Pittsburgh). He had 2,712 career hits; would have had 3,000 if he had become an everyday player in 1973 rather than being blocked for two years by baseball's best lineup. The voters saw fit to elect Jim Rice - the exact same hitter as Parker only for a shorter career, at an easier position, without any of Parker's Gold Gloves. Unfortunately, Parker may never make the Hall. If he does it will be as an old man, inducted via seemingly random decisions of the Veterans Committee.

Mondesi Shut Out
And of course, great former Pirates Raul Mondesi and Benito Santiago received one vote total, that vote going to Santiago. You can't win 'em all.

4 Former Pirates on HOF Ballot

The Baseball Writers' Association of America announced their Hall of Fame ballot yesterday. Four Pirates are on it this year - two legitimate candidates and two 16 seeds who will be one and done.

Bert Blyleven enters his 14th year of eligibility. His support in the voting has steadily risen from less than 20% in his first three years of eligibility to 74.2% last year - just short of the required 75%. In January I revisited the trade that brought Blyleven to Pittsburgh and helped win the '79 World Series and defended his Hall of Fame credentials.

Blyleven averaged 229 innings a year for 22 seasons. He was an above average pitcher for 17 of these seasons and was the most valuable pitcher in his league twice according to Baseball Reference. He had the greatest curveball of all time and was the greatest complete game pitcher of his era. His 24 complete games in 1985 have not even been approached since then; no one has completed more than 15 in a season since. He was a big game pitcher, with a 5-1 record and a 2.47 ERA in the postseason and two World Series rings. Only Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, and Steve Carlton struck out more batters than Blyleven's 3701 - which is over 800 more strikeouts than the most of any eligible pitcher not enshrined, Mickey Lolich's 2832.

The main knock on Blyleven's career is the claim that he was a .500 pitcher. Not only is this untrue since he was 37 games over .500, but this well understates his contribution. Baseball Reference estimates he was worth 90 additional wins to his teams over his career - 60 is usually a no-brainer Hall of Fame level. Let's hope 75% of the voters have brains this year.

Dave Parker enters his 15th and final season of eligibility. Parker's case is much different than Blyleven's. Basically there are two ways to rate players - peak value and career value. Parker presents a Hall of Fame case based on his peak value - for five years he was legitimately the best player in baseball. From 1975-79 Parker averaged hitting .321/.377/.532 with 37 doubles, 9 triples, 23 home runs, 98 RBI, 17 steals, and 13 assists in the outfield, while winning three Gold Gloves and finishing in the top three in the MVP race three times. He was the best all-around hitter in the league, the best right fielder, had the best throwing arm, and had outstanding speed on the bases. If you try to come up with how you would arrange those Pirates lineups, Parker is the best option to bat leadoff and the best option to bat fifth. The offensive numbers may not seem legendary in today's context, but they were absolutely gargantuan in the light hitting 1970s.

Parker had a pretty good career afterwards too. He made five more All-Star teams and got votes in the MVP race four more times including Top 5 finishes in 1985-86. He drove in 92 runs in a poor Brewers lineup when he was 39 years old. He was still a feared enough hitter to finish in the top 10 in intentional walks five times after his 34th birthday. He retired with 2712 hits and 1493 RBI.

I think Parker would be in the Hall of Fame already but, of course, he admitted to doing cocaine in the 1980s. Why is it inspirational that Josh Hamilton was a good baseball player, then did cocaine. and then was a good baseball player, but it is shameful that Dave Parker did the same thing? If you evaluate Parker on what he did on the field, he's a Hall of Famer.

Entering the "no chance" realm, Benito Santiago makes his first appearance on the ballot. I posted in February on Santiago, the poster child for the Dave Littlefield regime in Pittsburgh. The former GM brilliantly opted to trade a hard-throwing young reliever in Leo Nunez for the veteran catcher, only to play him for six games in 2005 and then release him despite a $2.25 million salary.

His Pirates tenure notwithstanding, Santiago was a good player who had a good throwing arm, won three Gold Gloves and made five All-Star teams. Unfortunately he was unable to get on base (.307 career OBP) and got injured too much to collect even 2000 hits. He'll get one or two votes and that's it.

And of course, Raul Mondesi also is on the ballot - another bizarre Littlefield-era Pirate. The Pirates signed the 33-year-old outfielder, who was coming off nine consecutive seasons of at least 24 home runs, to a modest $1.15 million contract for 2004. Mondesi was playing every day and hitting a decent .283/.355/.424 on May 7 when he suddenly left the team and went to the Dominican Republic for no apparent reason. He claimed that his wife and family needed him in connection with a $600,000 civil judgment that he had lost. Never mind that he had already earned $65 million in his MLB career. The Pirates were forced to release him, whereupon his agents immediately began negotiating with other clubs. But he never hit again and was out of baseball by the next year. Raul was a good player for ten years from 1994-2003, a power/speed threat, but not even close to a Hall of Famer. He'll get zero votes.

At Least Gorzellany Got A Bobblehead

Bert Blyleven narrowly missed election to the Hall of Fame today and Dave Parker again came up well short. For another year anyway, Willie Stargell remains the only 1979 Pirate enshrined. With only two years remaining in his eligibility, let's hope Blyleven does not come up short again.

His curveball may have been the best in baseball history, and his 3,701 strikeouts rank fifth all time. He went 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA over 22 seasons, winning World Series with both the 1979 Pirates and 1987 Twins. He was incredibly durable for a pitcher who relied on a breaking pitch, most notably in 1985 when he threw an amazing 24 complete games. And he went 5-1, 2.47 for his career in the postseason.

There is no question in my mind that Blyleven is a Hall of Famer. It is amazing that Jack Morris, with a 3.90 ERA and 254 career wins, gets consideration for being a "big game pitcher" with a 3.80 postseason ERA, while Blyleven's 2.47 is virtually forgotten. Compared to some of his contemporaries who are in the Hall, Blyleven's stats are better than Don Sutton and Catfish Hunter, worse than Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver, and similar to Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton, Ferguson Jenkins and Phil Niekro. While some have claimed Bert's record was not far enough above .500, I doubt many of those critics would have failed to elect Nolan Ryan with a .526 winning percentage.

There are three reasons Bert Blyleven is not in the Hall of Fame already. One is his lack of 300 wins. This was no problem for half the pitchers in the Hall and is especially a joke when Bert is fifth all time in strikeouts. Two is lack of visibility by playing in small markets in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and even by broadcasting in Minneapolis after his retirement. This is irrelevant to his career achievements. Three is that people think he never was one of the very best pitchers in baseball. Yet his 1973, 1974, 1981, 1983 and 1984 seasons were at least equal to any AL pitcher in those years and would have earned him multiple Cy Youngs if he were a Yankee. At a minimum he was the fourth best pitcher of the 1970s. In his off years of 1979 and 1987 he was winning playoff and World Series games, contributing to championships. His first off year was the 19th season of his career and he came back with a 17-5 record the next season. Let's hope he gets the 0.8% of additional votes next year to put him into his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.

With That Hat I'd Shave the Beard And Go 'Stache Only

Former Pirate Bert Blyleven is widely regarded as the best eligible pitcher not already in the Hall of Fame. As we await today's announcement of whether he finally has made it, let's look at the trade that brought him to Pittsburgh and his Pirates career.

The Pirates had consistently good teams throughout the 1970s, but they were stuck in the same division as the Schmidt-Luzinski-Carlton Phillies in those pre-wild card days. After consecutive second place finishes in 1976 and '77, management wanted a second ace behind John Candelaria.

In those sexually free days, the Pirates pulled off a four-team swap with the Mets, Rangers, and Braves to land Texas righthander Bert Blyleven. Bert possessed the best curveball in baseball and already had 122 wins at the age of 26, but had apparently angered Rangers management (and no doubt some Bible-thumping fans) by giving the finger to a TV camera. The Pirates liked his 2.72 ERA and league-leading 1.07 WHIP.

The Pirates sent All-Star left fielder and 1971 champion Al Oliver to the Rangers, along with crappy shortstop prospect Nelson Norman. Pittsburgh gambled that the aging Willie Stargell could stay healthy and productive, allowing Bill Robinson to take over in left field. They hedged their bet with the acquisition of John Milner from the Mets in the same trade. Milner was a slightly above average hitter who could play first base, left or right fields - the type of guy the modern Yankees and Red Sox trade for every season.

Reflection Of The Times
This trade never would happen today. Teams just do not part with 26-year-old ace pitchers unless they don't plan on contending, and the Rangers were coming off a 94-68 season. Meanwhile, Oliver, 31 at the time, was the type of player who has recently fallen out of favor - a poor fielder with few walks and only moderate power at a corner outfield position.

But Oliver's .296/.335/.454 Pirates line was just what baseball writers and fans loved in those days. In fact he had earned MVP votes in five of his previous six seasons in Pittsburgh. On the other hand, while Milner's career .344 OBP and .413 slugging with the Mets looks like a minor downgrade from Oliver in retrospect, batting average was king in those days. Milner's .249 career average reduced him to a throw-in.

Championship Pitching
As the key piece coming to Pittsburgh, Blyleven was even better than Candelaria in 1978. He went 14-10, 3.03 and pitched 243 innings. Unfortunately, the team spun its wheels most of the season and had a losing record as late as August 26 before winning 11 straight to get back into the race. Needing a four-game final weekend sweep of the Phillies, the Pirates fell a game short.

In 1979, Blyleven was the Pirates Opening Day starter. Despite throwing a team-high 237 innings he got 20 no-decisions and went 12-5, 3.60. Accustomed to completing more games, Blyleven began to complain about his usage.

He got his complete game wish in the NLCS, going the distance to beat the Reds in the clinching third game, 7-1. He then went six strong innings in a no-decision in World Series Game 2, an eventual win over Jim Palmer and the Orioles.

Of course his next performance was one for the ages. With his team facing elimination, down 3-1 in the series and 1-0 in the game, Bert Blyleven came in on two days rest and pitched four shutout innings for the crucial win. It was his first relief appearance in seven years. He would be gone just one year later, but with a 2-0, 1.42 record in that postseason, Bert cemented himself in fans' memories.

Blyleven got poor run support in 1980 and went 8-13, 3.82 as the Pirates failed to make a serious run at defending their crown. He was then shipped to Cleveland for a bunch of crappy late 1970s Indians players. Overall Blyleven went 34-28, 3.47 in Pittsburgh and averaged 34 starts in his three years. After leaving Pittsburgh, he continued to be a top-tier starter as late as 1989, compiling 131 more wins and winning another World Series with the '87 Twins.

The Rest of The Story
John Milner stayed until halfway through 1981 season, hitting .263/.361/.417 in a platoon role. Those don't look like great numbers now, but were very good for a role player at the time. Milner was traded for Willie Montanez, a big name player who had nothing left in his tank by the time he got ot Pittsburgh.

Al Oliver hit over .300 every year from 1978-84 and made four more All-Star teams, including 1982 when he hit .331 with 22 home runs and 109 RBI. Overall he hit .311/.355/.447 with 1253 hits after the trade.

Finally, the Pirates were better off without Nelson Norman, who hit a horrendous .221/.256/.263 in 198 inexplicable major league games.

A Win For The Pirates
While not a complete steal, overall the Pirates clearly won this trade. In Blyleven, they got the big game ace they needed and won a World Series. In 1979 anyway, Milner and a rejuvenated Stargell made up for the lost production from Oliver. This deal was one of two that put the Pirates over the top, the other being the Bill Madlock trade in 1979.

While the later trade of Blyleven was a big loser for the Pirates, in the 1977 trade the Pirates traded a very good player at his peak and a garbage prospect for a young Hall of Fame pitcher and a very solid role player. This was completely foreseeable as every player in the trade continued to play the same after the trade as before.

We'll find out at 1:30 today whether Bert Blyleven will take his rightful place in Cooperstown.