Bert Blyleven

Rik Aalbert Blyleven (born Blijleven, April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher and color commentator. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins, and from 1996 to 2020 was a color commentator for Minnesota Twins television broadcasts. Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. He won 287 games, 27th-most all-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-most all-time. A renowned curveball pitcher, Blyleven was a two-time All-Star and World Series champion. In 2011, Blyleven was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Blyleven made his major league debut at age 19 for the Twins. In the middle of the 1976 season, he was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he threw a no-hitter in his final start for the team. He won his first World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979. Upon being traded to the Cleveland Indians, Blyleven initially struggled with injuries, but then enjoyed a late-career resurgence, finishing third in the Cy Young Award voting in back-to-back years, with Cleveland in 1984 and in 1985, a season split between the Indians and Twins. During his second stint with Minnesota, Blyleven became the tenth member of the 3,000-strikeout club in 1986 and won a second World Series title in 1987. He played three seasons for the California Angels before retiring.

Blyleven became the first Dutch-born player to earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the pitching coach for the Netherlands in several World Baseball Classic tournaments.

Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born in Zeist, a town in Utrecht, Netherlands, the son of Johannes Cornelius and Jannigje Blijleven. His family moved to Melville, Saskatchewan when Blyleven was two years old before ultimately settling in Garden Grove, California in 1957 when Blyleven was five years old. One of seven children, his parents anglicized their own names to Joe and Jenny, with Rik Aalbert becoming "Bert".

Blyleven became interested in baseball as a young boy watching Sandy Koufax pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and listening to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett announce the Dodgers' radio broadcasts. Blyleven later said, "My dad built me a mound in the backyard with a canvas backdrop over our horseshoe pits, and I would go back there and just throw and throw and throw until I developed it, and it became my curveball. And I could throw it over at any time, any count."

Blyleven starred on the Santiago High School baseball team in Garden Grove, also running cross country to build up his stamina and leg strength. The Minnesota Twins drafted him out of high school in the third round, with the 55th selection in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. After just 21 minor league starts, the Twins called him up to the majors at age 19 on June 2, 1970. In his first season, his sharp curveball helped him to 10 wins, and he was named American League (AL) Rookie Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News. In 1973, he pitched nine shutouts, the most of any AL pitcher that season.

However, Blyleven's early career with the Twins was not always pleasant, as he was hounded by critics and fans. He clashed with Twins owner Calvin Griffith over his $65,200 salary and refused to sign a contract with the team for the 1976 season. The Twins traded him along with Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers for Roy Smalley III, Mike Cubbage, Bill Singer, and Jim Gideon on June 1, 1976. The deal was set in motion when Blyleven agreed with the Rangers on a three-year, $550,000 contract two days earlier.

Blyleven pitched well with the Rangers, posting a 2.74 ERA in fewer than two seasons. On September 22, 1977, just two weeks after being sidelined with a groin injury, Blyleven no-hit the California Angels 6–0. The no-hitter was his final start as a Ranger; not until Cole Hamels during the 2015 season would a pitcher be traded after pitching a no-hitter in his most recent start for the team that traded him. His 2.74 ERA with Texas is one of the lowest in franchise history.