| Blyleven is a classic borderline case. He never really distinguished himself as elite in any one season, but he he had a long career of mostly playing on lousy teams in which he was able to put up good-not-great numbers for a long time. I think Don Sutton is an example of a similar pitcher, except Sutton got those 300 wins so he made the Hall, mostly because he played on strong Dodgers teams in the 70s and 80s. Do I feel like the Hall would be diluted a bit with Bly in it? Yeah, but not any more than it was with Jim Rice or Andre Dawson, or for that matter, Lloyd Waner, Joe Tinker or Freddie Lindstrom. As an Indians fan I watch a decent number of Twins games, and Blyleven is a pretty good sportscaster and he seems like a likable guy so I can understand why people who know him personally or Twins fans are pulling for him to make it. |