http://baseball-reference.com/b/blylebe01.shtml

whos that?

Yes, he is HOF worthy.

>Almost 300 wins
>Top 10 all time in strikeouts
>Top 10 all time in shutouts.
>5-1 with a 2.47 record in the post season.
>One of the nastiest curve balls ever.

Blyleven, yes. But oddly, you do not see the same support for Tommy John who has more wins and less losses and almost the same ERA. Blyleven had the Ks but John had three 20 wins seasons and probably more ''feared'' during his day than Bly was.

He won 287 games pitching for mostly .500 teams. He is won World Series, & World Series games, in each league. He is got 3,700 strikeouts, third all-time when he retired. He had one of the best curveballs ever. And he was not a jerk. If he'd pitched in New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles (NOT Anaheim, like he actually did), he'd be in already. But he pitched most of his career in Minnesota, Texas & Pittsburgh, which is probably the biggest reason he is not in yet.

That, & that home run he gave up to Mark Grace to give the Cubs in the World Series. Wait, that was just a movie. (Had to be: That is the only way the Cubs win the Series.)

Biggest curveball in the tv era. Bigger than Gibson, Ryan, or Gooden. If he wanted 300 he could have had it easily, in my opinion he was more consistent & dominant than Jack Morris (in the regular season).
My dad said the same about Tommy John as above. He was a later version of Kofax. Dad said Kofax was the best he ever saw.
Tommy John is injury kept him from compiling stats. Darn the luck. If neither of these guys gets in, they will be sadly forgotten in one more generation.
Definately a Hall of famer.

well my opinion is biased cause l was born and raised in minnesota and been a twins fan my entire life. just look at the wins and the k is and there is no doubt he should be in the hall. its bs that he is not.

There is lots of reasons, but l will cite just one:

Career shutouts:

1. W. Johnson (1907-27) -- 110
2. Alexander (1911-30) -- 90
3. Mathewson (1900-16) -- 79
4. Young (1890-1911) -- 76
5. Plank (1901-17) -- 69

Notice the top five r all close to if not more than a century ago. Gameplay style was different then, run scoring generally lower (and these men were all excellent pitchers), so shutouts were a bit easier to come by. Let is continue.

Now we reach some post-WWI l era guys.

6. Spahn (1942-65) -- 63
7t. Ryan (1966-93) -- 61
7t. Seaver (1967-86) - 61
9. Blyleven (1970-92) -- 60

Whoa! Not only is Bert #9 all-time, he is fourth-best in the postwar era, & in a very, very tight cluster with the three guys ahead of him.

Worth noting, Johnson, Alexander, Mathewson, Young, Plank, Spahn, Ryan, & Seaver r all in the Hall.

This is not comprehensive nor conclusive, but it certainly is pointing in an obvious direction.

If we continue down the list of career shutouts, we encounter HOFer after HOFer -- Sutton, Galvin, Walsh, Gibson, Brown, Carlton, Palmer, Perry, Marichal, Waddell, Willis, Drysdale, Jenkins, Wynn -- & finally find, tied at #21 with 49, Luis Tiant also on the outside. And there is plenty more HOFers quickly following.

Bert is in good company, but they wo not give him a key to the washroom. This needs to change.

Vote Blyleven 2009!

l could support Bly getting in. l think his stats warrant it.

Tommy John does not compare favorably with him. John was a junk pitcher. He routinely gave up more hits than innings pitched. Blyleven had 50% more complete games & 14 more shutouts than John in 4 less years.

John was a compiler. Blyleven was the ace of any team he was with.

The drawback fro him was in the 1986 & 87 seasons with 50 & 46 HRs allowed respectively. That would be considered bad today, let alone back then.

compare Blyleven is statistics with others (Don Sutton) that are already in the Hall of Fame. The only difference is Sutton managed to be able to play for the Dodgers in the 70's. If Blyleven would have been on teams that consistently won, he would have well exceeded the ''criteria'' that the writers look for, regrettably 1979 and the Pirates was the only time that he was surrounded by a winning team.

absolutely & everyone that has answered ur question before me has given very good reasons why so l do not need to repeat his feats, lets just say this, l am 43 years young & been a baseball fan as long as l can remember, l am also from baltimore & a die hard Orioles fan, but l must say l remember Mr. Blyleven very fondly when he came to visit & err beat my Orioles butts in the 79 world series.
even then l knew that one day his plaque would be hanging with the all time greats. but never did l imagine it would take this long.