STILL NO LOVE FOR BERT BLYLEVEN

A pitcher who's 5th on the all time strikeout list can't get into Cooperstown? It seems likely that he'll be elected next year, as he just missed this time, but who are these voters? Do they watch more ballgames than I do? A quick rundown of Bert's career: He's pitching effectively in the majors at the age of 19 for the 1970 Twins. From 1971-1976, he goes 89-81 for Twins teams that are 25 games under .500 when he doesn't pitch, posts ERA's between 2.52 and 3.12, and strikes out 200+ a year. He's traded to the Rangers in June of 1976 and continues to pitch well there. He's traded to the Pirates in December 1977, continues to pitch well, and allows 3 runs in 19 innings in the 1979 playoffs, pitching 4 innings of scoreless relief in Game 5 with the Pirates facing elimination. He has a mediocre 1980, going 8-13, and the Pirates ship him to Cleveland, where he regains his form and goes 11-7 in the strike-shortened season, before missing almost all of 1982 with an elbow injury, and pitching poorly in 1983. Bert comes back to go 19-7 in 1984, and gets traded again, back to the Twins, in mid-1985. In a typical Blyleven season, he goes 17-16 for two bad teams (the Indians lost 102 games that year), pitches 24 complete games, and leads the league in strikeouts. No one notices. At this point, Bert is 35, and with the exception of his age 38 season for the California Angels where he goes 17-5, doesn't pitch all that well again. He gives up 96 home runs in 1986-87, but makes it back to the postseason with the 1987 Twins, and goes 3-1. Finally, Blyleven has rotator cuff surgery in 1991, at the age of 40, and comes back to pitch at 41, though he goes 8-12 with a 4.74 ERA. So, 287 wins, 242 complete games, a 5-1 postseason record, 2 rings, and 3700 strikeouts? That isn't enough?

Oh, and congratulations, Andre Dawson! More on him later.