Bert Blyleven

He won 287 games, 27th-most all-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-most all-time.

A renowned Curveball pitcher, Blyleven was also a two-time All-Star and World Series champion.

Rik Aalbert Blyleven (born Blijleven, April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins.

Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history.

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 names to Joe and Jenny, with Rik Aalbert becoming simply "Bert".

He 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 was quoted as saying, "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, also running cross country to build up his stamina and leg strength.

He was drafted out of high school by the Minnesota Twins in the third round in 1969.

After just 21 minor league starts, he found himself called up to the Majors at age 19 on June 2, 1970.

In his first season, his sharp Curveball helped him to ten victories, and he was named 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.

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.

Unhappy with his salary there, Blyleven was traded (along with teammate Danny Thompson) to the Texas Rangers in a six-player deal on June 1, 1976.

He pitched well with the Rangers, posting a 2.76 ERA.

On September 22, 1977, just two weeks after being sidelined with a groin injury, Blyleven no-hit the California Angels 6–0 at Anaheim Stadium.

Following an incident in which Blyleven blatantly gave the finger to a television camera obviously focused on him during one of the Rangers' rare nationally broadcast games, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first four-team blockbuster deal in Major League Baseball history on December 8, 1977, that also involved the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and a total of 11 players changing teams.

The Pirates also acquired John Milner from the Mets.

The Rangers received Al Oliver and Nelson Norman from the Pirates and Jon Matlack from the Mets.

Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller were traded from the Rangers to the Braves.

The Mets got from the Braves Willie Montañez and from the Rangers Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson who was sent to New York to complete the transaction three months later on March 15, 1978.

With the Pirates, he led the team in ERA, strikeouts, and complete games in 1978, and he helped them to a World Series victory in 1979.

He won his first World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979.

His 20 no decisions in 1979 are the most by an MLB starting pitcher in a season, dating back to at least 1908.

Blyleven became disgruntled with the Pirates and threatened to retire during the 1980 season if he was not traded.

The Pirates traded him to the Cleveland Indians on December 9, 1980.

Blyleven sat out most of the 1982 season with an elbow injury and struggled again in 1983, but he came back in 1984 with one of his best seasons: a 19–7 record with a 2.87 ERA.

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 also the following 1985 season that he split between the Indians and Twins.

It was during this second stint with Minnesota that 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.

From 1996 to 2020, he was a color analyst for Minnesota Twins television broadcasts.

Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born in Zeist, a municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands, the son of Johannes Cornelius and Jannigje Blijleven.

He serves as the pitching coach for the Netherlands national baseball team, having done so in the 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Although under-appreciated during his playing career, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011—his second-to-last year of eligibility.

Blyleven made his major league debut at age 19 for the Twins.

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 career ERA with the Rangers remains the best in team history.