He’s Taking the Curves to Hall of Fame

Everyone knows who The Doc is. Bulldog. Roger the Rocket. The best pitchers of the era, right? Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Roger Clemens.

We all know who The Big Train was. Matty. The Meal Ticket. Gibby. Tom Terrific. Sandy. Big D. Great pitchers of the ages. Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Bob Gibson, Seaver, Koufax, Don Drysdale.

And, then, of course, there was/is The Dutchman.

Who? You ask. Dutch Leonard? Dutch Reuther?

No, we’re talking here about a real Dutchman. Born there.

How about Rik Aalbert Blyleven?

Let’s see, you say. Didn’t he used to pitch for Minnesota or Cleveland or somebody like that? Good curveball, right? Wasn’t he a relief pitcher?

No, Bert Blyleven has for 20 years been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. In fact, he is one of the best complete-game pitchers in the history of baseball with 234.

But he might as well have been pitching in a mask and with an alias for all the attention he got. You jog even the most dedicated fan, one who might know what Dwight Gooden had for breakfast yesterday morning, and you ask about Blyleven and you’ll hear: “Oh, yeah, Blyleven. Good curveball. Tell me, where’s he pitching now. Texas? Oakland? Cleveland? I kind of lost track of him.”

Bert Blyleven is pitching for the Angels, thank you. And, they’re doing well. It should come as no surprise to the readers. Bert Blyleven’s teams often do well.

How do you measure a pitcher? Games won? Bert Blyleven has won 258. Only one active pitcher (Nolan Ryan) has won more. Only 33 have ever won more.

Innings pitched? He has 4,520. Only 22 pitchers have more. Strikeouts? He ranks right behind Walter Johnson, seventh on the all-time list, with 3,457. If he stays injury-free this year, he could end up as high as third.

How about shutouts? Well, he tied Bob Gibson for 12th on the all-time list this year when he pitched his 56th.

You want no-hitters? Bert Blyleven pitched one in 1977 against the Angels in Anaheim. Low-hit games? He has pitched five one-hitters, nine two-hitters, 10 three-hitters and 34 four-hitters.

Good pitchers find a way to get in playoffs and World Series. Blyleven got in them and starred in them. He has been in three playoffs and two World Series. He is 3-0 in playoffs and 2-1 in World Series. He won the crucial fourth game for Pittsburgh in 1979 when Baltimore was leading the tournament, three games to one. He won Game 1 of the 1987 World Series for Minnesota.

If he wins 300 games, he has to be considered a prime candidate for the Hall of Fame. He will have done everything asked of a Hall of Fame pitcher except get on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The prevailing opinion is, Bert Blyleven has done this with an outstanding curveball and not much else. In fact, Bert Blyleven has a better-than-average fastball and immaculate control. Any pitcher in baseball can tell you, it’s not what you throw, it’s where-you-throw-it. Bert Blyleven pretty much throws the ball where he wants it, not where the batter wants it. Also, he says, he has not one curveball, but several.

“It depends on the arm angle. It dictates whether it’s a sharp-breaking curve, a rainbow curve, a slow or fast curve. Also, I have always been able to throw the curveball for strikes.”

But, whatever spot Blyleven occupies in the game today, he is, by all odds, the most effective pitcher ever to come out of Zeist, Holland, and one of the greatest Dutchmen since Peter Stuyvesant.

The family migrated to Canada when Bert was 5 and to Orange County a short time later. Bert was the only guy in the high school who could talk Dutch and throw a slider at the same time, but it was his curveball that brought scouts running. Rival players would stop warming up to watch Blyleven throw. It was the Kohinoor diamond of curveballs. Roy Campanella once called the curveball “Public Enemy No. 1,” but Blyleven’s was the Godfather. When it was working right, it was easier to hit a lottery.

The odd part was, nobody ever taught it to him. The little Dutch boy just picked up a baseball one day and threw it. The ball traveled 59 feet, then turned due left.

It became a standard of measurement. Baseball men would automatically say of a prospect “Well, he’s got a curve, it’s not exactly a Blyleven curve.” It became a pitch against which all others would be measured.

So, why isn’t this Dutch act a No. 1 bubblegum card, a sports page staple, a guy with his own nickname, like the Deuce? Trimming his beard on television to sell razors?

First of all, Blyleven has been through more tank towns than a slow freight. He was with Minnesota in his early career. He was constantly the “other” man in a trade. Did the team want slugger Al Oliver? Offer them a first baseman--and throw in Bert Blyleven. Need an infield? Deal off a utility man and throw in Blyleven. Need bullpen help? See what you can get for Manny Sanguillen and throw in Blyleven. Bert got so he had to look at the front of his uniform to remember where he was--Minnesota, Texas, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Minnesota again, and California. Have curve, will travel.

Nobody hangs out any “K’s” from the second deck when he pitches, even though he could end up third in them on the all-time list.

Baseball’s Dutch Treat is 38. But hometown fans have never hung the nickname “Dutch” on him. They save that for pitchers named Leonard and Presidents named Reagan. But, if he hangs around to pitch Anaheim into a World Series they may name a ride at Disneyland after him. Naturally, they’ll call it the Curve.