Wire Service Names Blyleven AL Comeback Player of Year

Bert Blyleven seemed to have entered his twilight years. The signposts were a sub-.500 season and an earned-run average over 5 in 1988 at age 37. But not only did the bearded right-hander refuse to go quietly, he refused to go at all.

Blyleven found rejuvenation in Anaheim. Rebounding from a thumb ligament injury that had hampered him with the Minnesota Twins in 1988, Blyleven was 17-5 in 1989 with a league-leading five shutouts and a 2.73 ERA last season, a performance for which he was announced as United Press International’s American League comeback player of the year Thursday.

Blyleven, who last month won the same honor from the Sporting News, received 11 of 25 votes from UPI’s baseball correspondents. Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen was second with six votes, followed by Boston’s Nick Esasky, with two. Kirk McCaskill of the Angels and five other players each received one vote.

“The biggest honor is that this is something the writers give out,” said Blyleven, who led the Angels’ pitching staff in victories and helped keep the team ERA at 3.28, second-lowest in the league.

“My first year (1970), winning rookie pitcher of the year was quite an honor. After that, I don’t think I won another award besides the World Series (with Minnesota in 1987) and you get a trophy and your ring. . . . I always felt the comeback player should be presented to someone coming off a major injury. . . . You look at the year I had in ‘88, and this is definitely a comeback.”