Bert Blyleven timeline: A lifetime of baseball

July 23, 2011 at 1:47PM
Bert Blyleven.
Bert Blyleven. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Here is a timeline of Bert Blyleven's baseball career. Hyperlinks with many of the dates will take you to material from sources including Star Tribune and other archives, and statistics from baseball-reference.com.

April 6, 1951 -- Rik Aalbert Blyleven born in the Netherlands. His father moves the family to Canada when Bert was 2 and to California when he was 5. Blyleven was raised in Garden Grove, Cal., where his father, Joe, built a pitcher's mound in the backyard of the family home.

1966-69 – Blyleven attends Santiago High School, where he stars in baseball and runs cross country

June 1969 – Selected by the Twins in the third round of MLB's amateur draft.

July-Sept. 1969 – Compiles a 7-2 record and 2.09 ERA with two Twins minor-league teams.

April 1970 – Assigned to Class AA Evansville, where he makes seven starts before getting called up to the majors.

June 5, 1970 – Makes major league debut against Washington Senators. Gives up home run to first batter he faces, Lee Maye, and wins the game 2-1. Blyleven had a 10-9 record and 3.18 ERA

1970 – Named American League rookie pitcher of the year by The Sporting News.

1973 – Led the American League with nine shutouts and posted a 20-17 record. Pitched 325 innings.

1976 – Involved in a contract dispute with owner Calvin Griffith, who sought to trade Blyleven.

May 31, 1976 – Made obscene gesture at fans at Metropolitan Stadium when he walked off mound after a loss to the Angels, the final start of his stint with the Twins.

June 1, 1976 – Traded to Texas in a deal that brought Roy Smalley, three other players and $250,000 to Minnesota.

Sept. 22, 1977 – Pitched a no-hitter against California in his final start of the season.

Dec. 8, 1977 – Traded from Texas to Pittsburgh.

1978 – Led Pittsburgh in ERA, complete games and strikeouts.

1979 – Blyleven goes 12-5 on 37 starts and the Pirates win the World Series. Blyleven is the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the NLCS and Game 5 (pitching in relief) of the World Series.

May `1, 1980 – Leaves the team after 15 games and asks to be traded, citing "non-support and lack of confidence" from manager Chuck Tanner. He returns 10 days later and finishes the season 8-13.

Dec. 9, 1980 – Traded from Pittsburgh to Cleveland.

1982 – Elbow injury limits Blyleven to four starts.

1984 – Has spectacular season, going 19-7 with a 2.87 ERA for a Cleveland team that finished 75-87. Finished third in Cy Young voting behind two relief pitchers.

Aug. 1, 1985 – Returns to the Twins in a trade with Cleveland. Finishes the season by going 8-5, 300 for the Twins in 14 starts.

Aug. 1, 1986 – Blyleven get his 3,000th strikeout against Oakland, pitching a two-hitter against Oakland in a 15-strikeout performance.

1986 – Sets a major league record by giving up 50 home runs, including 27 solo home runs and 18 with one runner on base.

1987 – Blyleven goes 15-12, 4-01 for the World Series-winning Twins. Blyeleven wins both of his ALCS starts and goes 1-1 during the World Series, winning Game 2 and losing Game 5.

1988 – In final season with Twins, Blyelven goes 10-17 with a career-high 5.43 ERA. It was the third time in his career that he'd lost 17 games in a season.

Nov. 3, 1988 – Traded to California as part of a five-player deal.

1989 – Goes 17-5 with 2.73 ERA for the Angels, leading the AL in shutouts with five. Finished fourth in Cy Young Award balloting.

1991 – Missed the entire season with rotator cuff surgery and then pitched one final season for the Angels in 1992.

1993 – Went to training camp with the Twins, but didn't make the team and said that he was officially retired.

1996 – Blyleven joins the Twins as a TV commentator.

1998 – In first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, gets named on only 17.6 percent of ballots. His total dropped to 14.1 percent the following year.

2002 – Inducted into the Twins' Hall of Fame.

2004 – A California blogger, Rich Lederer, starts making a statistical case for Blyleven's inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Blyleven was named that year on slightly more than one-third of ballots; 75 percent is needed to get into Cooperstown.

2005 – Blyleven reaches the 40 percent mark for the first time.

September 2006 – Blyleven was suspended briefly by the Twins for cursing on the air before a Twins-Yankees game. He thought the segment that he botched was being recorded, but it was live.

2009 – Serves as pitching coach for the Dutch national team during the World Baseball Classic. The Dutch finish second in a major surprise.

2010 – Blyleven named on 74.2 percent of Hall of Fame votes – coming five votes short of being elected.

Jan. 5, 2011 – Blyleven and Roberto Alomar are elected. It was the 14th year of eligibility, for Blyleven, his next-to-last chance. "It's been 14 years of praying and waiting," he said.

July 16, 2011 -- Number is retired during pregame ceremony at Target Field.

Sunday – Bert will be inducted to the Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.

about the writer

about the writer

More from Twins

card image

Gerrit Cole gave up his opt-out right on Monday and will remain with the New York Yankees under a contract that runs through 2028 rather than become a free agent.

card image
card image