Blyleven Becomes a Comeback Kid at 41 : Angels: Veteran right-hander will make first major league start since 1990 on Tuesday.

It will be 22 years on June 1 since a 19-year-old right-hander named Bert Blyleven was summoned to the major leagues by the Minnesota Twins and joined his team at Boston’s Fenway Park.

On Thursday, the 41-year-old Blyleven, attempting to return from two rotator cuff operations on his right shoulder, was preparing for another such trip. His minor league contract had been purchased by the Angels and he was getting ready to leave his Villa Park home and join the Angels today in Boston.

“Obviously, history does repeat,” Blyleven said. “I’m very happy and very excited. I feel like I’m 19 again.”

The Angels, of course, hope that Blyleven, who did not pitch in 1991 and last started a major league game on Aug. 10, 1990, still has some of his historical effectiveness.

He will be seeking his 280th major league victory Tuesday when he faces the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium as the No. 5 starter in a rotation that includes left-handers Jim Abbott, Mark Langston and Chuck Finley, and Julio Valera as the No. 4 starter.

Valera’s effectiveness since his acquisition in the trade that sent Dick Schofield to the New York Mets and the favorable reports on Blyleven’s work in seven minor league starts prompted the Angels to make the following moves:

--Joe Grahe, 2-3 with a 5.90 earned-run average in seven starts with the Angels, was optioned to Edmonton in the hope that he can regain his consistency, said Dan O’Brien, senior vice president.

--Don Robinson, who has been on the disabled list because of an arthritic hip and back spasms, was released, the Angels swallowing his $900,000 contract. O’Brien said the Angels believe that Robinson will remain vulnerable to physical problems, in sharp contrast to the durable Blyleven.

Blyleven will get a salary of about $300,000, with bonuses based on innings pitched and roster time that can take it to more than $1 million.

Whitey Herzog, the club’s player personnel director, saw Blyleven pitch twice in the minors and reported he was ready to return, O’Brien said.

“No one in the organization had expected Bert to be back before midseason, but Whitey felt there was no reason to wait,” O’Brien said.

Blyleven lobbied for his return in a recent meeting with Herzog and Manager Buck Rodgers.

“I’m not where I was in 1989, but I’m not that far away,” he said, referring to a season in which he was 17-5 with a 2.73 earned-run average. “I feel I’m ready to pitch again in the major leagues. I hope to be able to go six or seven consistent innings, then build on that.”

Blyleven started five games for the Angels’ double-A affiliate at Midland, Tex., then two more for their triple-A Edmonton team. He pitched a total of 44 2/3 innings, giving up 43 hits and 18 earned runs. He walked only six and struck out 30. In his last start, against the Portland Beavers Wednesday night, he gave up 11 hits and seven runs in 5 2/3 innings.

“I’ve gotten better every time,” he said. “I probably threw the best I have (Wednesday), but the results were the worst.”

Blyleven began experiencing shoulder pain in 1990, when he was 8-7, and did not pitch after mid-August. He had the first operation in October, then another on April 16, 1991.

At no time during his rehabilitation, he said, did he doubt his ability to come back. “I’m a young 41,” he said. “I have too much spirit and ability to feel I’ve had enough, and I’m the only one who be can the judge of that.”

Blyleven is approaching several statistical milestones that could ensure his election to the Hall of Fame. He needs 21 victories for 300, nine strikeouts to tie Tom Seaver for third on the all-time list, and 62 2/3 innings to reach 5,000.

All of that, he said, provided motivation.

“But it was more my determination and stubbornness,” he added. “I kept hearing and reading that I was too old to still do it, and that just made me work harder. No matter how this goes, I have the satisfaction of having given 100%, and that’s all I can do.”

The 17 victories in 1989 earned Blyleven a comeback-of-the-year award. Now he has a shot at another.

“I know as the fifth starter, there will be times when I’m the odd man out, but that’s fine and could be beneficial to me (physically),” he said.

“If this team is going to win, it’s going to win with Langston, Finley and Abbott pitching every fifth day. I know that. I’ve been in their situation.”

He is in another now, but it may carry it’s own reward.