A Notable Record for Pitchers Is Within Sight; Gopher It, Bert!

Bert Blyleven shut out the Angels Monday night, and the Angels shut out Bert Blyleven.

He allowed the Angels no runs, and they allowed him no gopher balls.

Gopher ball, of course, is the name invented by Lefty Gomez for a home run ball. As in, “Fat pitch like that will go fer a home run.”

Despite Monday night’s setback, Blyleven is still on a record-setting gopher ball pace, threatening to break one of the game’s oldest and strongest records. The Minnesota right-hander has yielded 36 homers in his 25 starts.

If the Twins continue their five-man rotation, Blyleven figures to get 10 more starts. That projects to 14 more home run balls, giving him 50.

The single-season record was set 30 seasons ago by Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, who allowed 46 homers in 1956. Pedro Ramos holds the American League mark of 43, set in 1957. Roberts, of course, is the Sultan of Gopher. He was consistent, year in and year out. Like a McDonald’s restaurant, he probably has a sign in his front yard: “502 served.”

That 502 lifetime mark is out of sight for Blyleven, who is 35 and has served up only 303 home run balls. Still, 300 is a significant milestone and Blyleven passed it recently with hardly a headline. The real glamour, it seems, is in the one-season record.

Until this season, Blyleven had never thrown more than 24 gopher balls, but this is his first full year of pitching in the ultra-cozy Metrodome. The Twins don’t keep statistics on home vs. road gopher balls, but it’s a pretty safe bet that Bert has thrown the majority of his dingers in the Dome.

Can Blyleven do it, or will he fall victim to the inevitable media assault? If he gets close to the record, will the Twins give Blyleven additional starts? Bring him out of the bullpen against heavy hitters?

It occurs to me that some fans might consider this column a put-down of Blyleven. Au contraire . Blyleven is one of the game’s premier pitchers. He is 10th on the all-time strikeout list, and tied for 15th on the all-time shutout list, with 53. He has won 224 ballgames. Right now, he is 12-10 while pitching for a team well out of the pennant race.

Some say that Blyleven’s curve is the best in baseball. This year, without doubt, his gopher ball is No. 1, and rising. Cleveland’s Ken Schrom is second with 29 gophers.

Great gopher ball pitchers tend to be great pitchers, period. Roberts won 286 games while pitching for mostly lousy clubs. Don Sutton, the Dodgers’ all-time winningest pitcher, is also the team’s one-season gopher ace, with 38 in 1970.

This season, Cleveland’s Schrom is 11-4, and Detroit’s Jack Morris has 14 wins and 26 gophers.

You have to have a great arm to generate consistent long-ball power off opposing bats. And if all a guy did was allow home runs--or big flies, as they are popularly known in the big leagues--he wouldn’t last 17 seasons, as Blyleven has.

Typical Blyleven gem: Last Wednesday, he beat the Angels, 5-2. The Angel runs were homers by Reggie Jackson and Doug DeCinces.

I tried to contact Robin Roberts, who is now a pitching coach in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization, to see how he feels about the record and Blyleven’s chances. But someone at his home told me that Roberts was gone and would be unreachable for comment for a month.

I don’t blame him. Blyleven’s run for the record won’t be easy on Roberts. No matter how gracious he might be in public, Roberts has to feel bad about the impending loss of his piece of baseball immortality. That 46 is a great record.

Roberts has to be plagued with regrets and doubts. Did he throw too much off-speed stuff late that season? What about the near misses, the balls that fell inches short of the bleachers? Were any of his gopher balls nullified by rainouts?

Roberts has to be thinking: “Giving up homers is much easier today than in my time. Now you’ve got corked bats, batting gloves, pine tar, pitching machines, contact lenses, everything to aid the home run hitter. The Earth’s ozone layer is shot, which makes long balls carry better.

“Blyleven is pitching in the Metrodome, where homers are cheap. Besides, this is the age of Nautilus. Every hitter you see is a gorilla with 18-inch arms. If guys in my day had pumped iron and used steroids, I coulda given up 60 homers that season.”

I wanted to ask Roberts if he will be on hand to congratulate Blyleven if and when the record is broken. I checked the schedule. As it stands now, Blyleven’s next-to-last start will be in the Metrodome Sept. 30--Robin Roberts’ 60th birthday!

How does Blyleven feel about the quest for Roberts’ record? I haven’t been able to ask him yet, having failed on several attempts to reach him on the road, and at his Villa Park home while the Twins are in town to play the Angels.

I’ve got a hunch Bert wouldn’t want a big fuss made out of all this. He seems like a low-key type guy, a private person. In fact, he’s wearing a full beard these days as he goes for the record, although that may be a coincidence.

If Blyleven breaks the record, he probably won’t even want a special day, or commemorative T-shirts or anything. Probably won’t even want a new nickname, like Big Fly Bly.

“Just put my name in the book,” he’ll probably say, “and let ‘em all try to catch me.”

GOPHER BALL LEADERS

1986

Pitcher Team HRs Bert Blyleven Minn. 36 Ken Schrom Clev. 29 Jack Morris Det. 26 Ken Dixon Balt. 26 Frank Viola Minn. 26 Dave Stieb Tor. 25 Scott McGregor Balt. 25 Dennis Boyd Bos. 24 Don Sutton Cal. 24 Walt Terrell Det. 22 Mike Moore Sea. 22

SINCE 1977

Yr Pitcher Team HRs ’79 Phil Niekro Atl. 41 ’79 F. Jenkins Tex. 40 ’82 Matt Keough Oak. 38 ’83 Dan Petry Det. 37 ’84 Mike Smithson Minn. 35 ’85 Danny Darwin Milw. 34 ’85 S. McGregor Balt. 34 ’77 Jerry Garvin Tor. 33 ’80 Dennis Leonard K.C. 30 ’85 Mario Soto Cin. 30 ’78 D. Eckersley Bos. 30

SOURCE: John Chymczuk, Elias Sports Bureau