How Bert Blyleven vs. BBWAA Changed the Hall of Fame
Bert Blyleven got elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011, after spending 14 years on the ballot. His campaign was a battle of stats vs sight, saber metrics vs the eye test, old, anti change writers vs nerds who live in their moms basement and never watch a game, only pouring over spreadsheets. The Twins legend, who had his number retired by them, was one of the most polarizing candidates on the ballot.
The last one was bit of an exaggeration, but insults like that did fly during the Blyleven (and Jack Morris) debates. The traditionalists vs saber metrics battle was going full force during this time.
287 wins? Not 300. 5th all time in strikeouts with well over 3000? Evidently not enough. Winning the World Series with the Pirates? They are team dependent, even though Bert has a 5-1 record with an ERA under 2.5. A wicked curveball known as one of the best by other hitters? For some reason didn't matter. Domination of Reggie Jackson? Even he thinks Blyleven isn't a HOFer, so obviously his thoughts are true.
At the start of his stint on the Hall of Fame ballot, Clinton was in his second term in office, and eBay was a recent invention. When he finally got into the Hall of Fame, Obama was sitting in the White House, signing bills into law, with sabermetrics judging players more than the eye test.
But this was not only a battle of sabermetrics, but one of feelings too. The main arguments against Blyleven, after the statistical argument wrapped up, was that Blyleven did not FEEL like a Hall of Fame player.
Now I certainly don't agree with this viewpoint. Feelings are subjective, and shouldn't be used to disqualify a canidate. He certainly has enough qualification statistically, and he shouldn't be disqualified due to feelings. You may cite his only 2 all star appearances, but Blyleven didn't play in big markets, and his W-L record was not the best due to playing on bad teams.
So for one second let's assume the “he didn't feel like a HOFer at the time” argument had merit. It is true Blyleven was not the best pitcher of his time period. Seaver and Carlton were the best at the time. But so what? Being behind Carlton, Palmer and Seaver is no bad thing. Just because you can't top Tom Seaver doesn't mean you aren't a deserving Hall of Famer.
What I am trying to say is that Blyleven brought the statistical revolution into the Baseball voting process. His entry gave legitimacy to the statistic fans. True this was not as big as Trout/Cabrera2012, but in terms of impacting the Hall of Fame, Blyleven is with a very small group.
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