In 10th year eligible, Blyleven stays positive, patient

MINNEAPOLIS -- Bert Blyleven wore down opposing hitters over 22 seasons on his way to compiling some impressive statistics.

Now in his 10th year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, Blyleven is hoping he's wearing down the baseball writers in much the same way.

After getting just 83 votes on his first try, Blyleven received 277 votes in the 2006 results -- showing up on 53.3 percent of the ballots. Election requires 75 percent of the votes, which are limited to 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Players remain on the annual ballot for up to 15 years as long as they get 5 percent of the votes each year.

Because it's beyond his control, Blyleven will continue being patient. And because he has slowly picked up more votes each year, Blyleven will continue thinking positive about his progress.

"It's an honor to play the game as long as I did. Whether I make it or not, I still had a lot of fun playing a kid's game," Blyleven said Monday from Florida, where he lives when he's not doing his job as a television analyst for Minnesota Twins games.

Jim Rice, Rich Gossage and Andre Dawson are the other holdovers who finished with more votes than Blyleven last year, and Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire and Cal Ripken are the headliners among 17 newcomers in the 2007 candidates.

"I vented earlier on, because I wanted my pops there," Blyleven said, referring to his father, Joe, who died of complications from Parkinson's disease more than two years ago. "But it's up to the writers, and I think I've learned over the years to be patient. Whatever happens happens."

Blyleven, a right-hander with a wicked curveball who pitched for the Twins, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels, is fifth among baseball's career strikeout leaders with 3,701. He's the only retired player in the top 16 on that list who isn't in the Hall of Fame, a group headed by Nolan Ryan that includes Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro and more.

The biggest blockade for Blyleven is probably his 287-250 career record, but there are dozens of pitchers with Cooperstown busts who won fewer games. Getting to 300 wins has generally been considered the magic mark for pitchers to make the Hall, but there are only 22 hurlers in history who reached it.

Blyleven is ninth with 60 career shutouts and 10th with 685 starts, and he went 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA in the postseason -- contributing to World Series winners in 1979 with Pittsburgh and 1987 with Minnesota.

"The hardest thing is probably to explain to somebody how hard it is to win a major league game," Blyleven said. "You need a lot of things to go your way.

"My goodness. How many games did I lose 2-1 or 1-0?"

Blyleven has online support at www.bertbelongs.com and said he often hears his peers like Sutton and Seaver tell him he should be in.

"I don't know if there is a timetable. I don't think there is a timetable, but hopefully writers will maybe do a little bit more research," Blyleven said.