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Known for his terrific curveball, pitcher Bert Blyleven won 287 games over a 22-year major league career. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011.
Blyleven was born in the Netherlands, one of only nine major leaguers to have been born in Holland as of 2020 (several major leaguers were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands outside Holland). His family relocated to Canada when he was 16 months old and, at age 5, he moved to California, where he learned baseball. After high school, he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1969 amateur draft. He played just 21 games in the minors before being called up
Known for his terrific curveball, pitcher Bert Blyleven won 287 games over a 22-year major league career. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011.
Blyleven was born in the Netherlands, one of only nine major leaguers to have been born in Holland as of 2020 (several major leaguers were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands outside Holland). His family relocated to Canada when he was 16 months old and, at age 5, he moved to California, where he learned baseball. After high school, he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1969 amateur draft. He played just 21 games in the minors before being called up by the Twins in 1970 to replace an injured Luis Tiant in the rotation. He made his big league debut on June 5, starting against the Washington Senators. The youngest big leaguer that summer at age 19, he ended the year with 10 wins and a 3.18 ERA.
During the 1976 season, Blyleven was traded to the Texas Rangers as part of a six-player trade. In his first start for the club, he threw an 11-inning complete game and in his fourth outing with the team, he hurled a 10-inning one-hitter against the Oakland Athletics. The following year, he threw a no-hitter against the California Angels on September 22nd. After a season and a half in Texas, Blyleven was part of another blockbuster deal, this one involving four teams and 11 players, that sent him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 1978 season. In 1979, he set a record for most no-decisions in a season with 20; finishing the season with 17 decisions in 37 starts and going 12-5 as his team won the NL East title. That year, in the NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds, he went the distance in Game 3 to clinch the sweep for his team. In the World Series, he earned a relief win in Game 5 as the Pirates downed the Baltimore Orioles in seven games to capture the championship.
Following a disappointing 8-13 record for Pittsburgh in 1980, Blyleven was dealt to the Cleveland Indians as part of a six-player trade. He missed all but 4 games of the 1982 campaign due to an injury but bounced back by 1984, winning 19 games for an Indians team that won only 75. The following August 1st, he was traded back to the Twins for four players. He ended the summer with 17 wins between the two clubs, leading the AL with 5 shutouts and 24 complete games. With Minnesota in 1986, Blyleven set the major league record by surrendering 50 home runs. The following summer, 1987, he won 15 as the Twins improved and won the AL West title. He earned 2 wins in the ALCS as his club upset the Detroit Tigers and notched another victory in Game 2 of the World Series as Minnesota beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. That Twins team was remarkable as it had only two reliable starters in Blyleven and Frank Viola, whom manager Tom Kelly used as much as possible in the postseason.
After leading the AL with 17 losses in 1988, Blyleven was traded to the Angels. He won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award after going 17-5 with a 2.73 ERA in his first summer in Southern California. He missed the entire 1991 season but came back again in 1992 at age 41 to post an 8-12 record in 24 starts. Let go by the Angels after that season, he signed with the Twins for 1993 but did not make the club.
Blyleven totaled 287 victories during his major league career. His 3,701 strikeouts rank fifth all-time and his 60 shutouts rank ninth. The eight pitchers ahead of him on the shutout trail are all in the Hall of Fame, as are 15 of the 16 pitchers immediately behind him. The exception is the man he replaced in his rookie season, Luis Tiant, who had 49 shutouts and 229 wins. Blyleven appeared on two World Series winners, and his ERA in World Series play was 2.35.
Blyleven returned to his birthland to pitch in the 1993 World Port Tournament, striking out three in two innings.
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Tags: Baseball (1), Dutch (1), Holland (1), Netherlands (1), Born 1951 (1), Pitcher (1), Minnesota Twins (1), Pittsburgh Pirates (1), Baseball Hall Of Fame (1), Right-Handed Pitcher (1), Curveball (1)
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