Blyleven frustrated by small vote increase

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: January 13, 2009 - 4:53 AM

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Two votes. That's how much progress Bert Blyleven made in his quest to be elected into baseball's Hall of Fame.

The former Twins righthander finished fourth in balloting for the second year in a row, receiving 338 votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, two more than his 336 last year. Blyleven received 62.7 percent of the votes cast, short of the 75 percent required for election.

Leadoff monster Rickey Henderson (who received 94.8 percent of votes) and hard-hitting outfielder Jim Rice (76.4) were elected to the Hall. Andre Dawson was third, getting 361 votes (67 percent).

Former Twins pitcher Jack Morris, in his 10th year on the ballot, finished sixth with 237 votes, good for 44 percent.

Blyleven was participating in the Twins' annual fantasy camp in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday.

"Of course I was frustrated by the results because of my small increase,'' Blyleven, in his 12th year on the ballot, wrote in an e-mail. "I am very happy for Henderson and Rice. Isn't it strange that Rice had to wait 15 years? Don't think his career numbers changed!''

Blyleven lost out in a bid to join Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor. Steve Carlton, Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett as Hall of Famers with ties to the Twins. Blyleven won 287 games in his career -- 149 of those coming during two stints in a Twins uniform, from 1970-76 and 1985-88.

Blyleven's candidacy continues to be a curious case. He finished 13 victories shy of the magical 300 mark but supporters point to his 3,701 career strikeouts (fifth all time), his 60 career shutouts (ninth) and that he played on some terrible teams. Detractors point to the lack of sustained dominance and no Cy Young Awards.

"I really think it’s weird when my career numbers are surrounded by current HOF pitchers and it has taken so long to get to where my percentages are now,’’ he wrote. "Guess almost two-thirds of the writers think I belong and the others don't. It would be nice, if I ever make the HOF, that I am on this side of the grass.''

Blyleven received 17.5 percent of the vote in 1998, his first year on the ballot. But he received just 14 percent the next season. After getting just 121 votes in 2001 (23.5 percent) Blyleven told the Star Tribune: "This is a message to all the writers. Don't vote for me at all."

They didn't listen.

Blyleven began to get more and more support. He received 35.4 percent in 2004, 40.9 in 2005, 53.3 in 2006. Support dropped to 47.7 on 2007 but jumped to 61.9 percent last year, suggesting that his time was coming.

Blyleven and Dawson now will have to contend with a 2010 class that includes Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin and Fred McGriff.

Henderson, baseball's all-time steals leader with 1,406 and runs scored with 2,295, becomes the 44th player to make the Hall during his first year of eligibility. Rice, in stark contrast to Henderson, was in his 15th and final year of eligibility for the BBWAA balloting.