Well the day is here. This is the day when we finally find out whether Bert Blyleven will finally get enough votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The action will go live today on FSN at 1 pm – as far as I know of, that is the only place to see coverage of the 2011 class announcement. Should things go Bert’s way, there will be extended opportunities to interview him, get loads of Bert stories from some of his teammates from back in the day and general frivolity. FSN hasn’t exactly explained what they will do if Bert isn’t included in the HOF list. I’m sure that they, like I, unlike Jon Heyman, are standing by with optimism and hope.
Whatever the result, I’ll come back to this post after the broadcast with my reactions.
**CONTINUED**
It’s OFFICIAL!! Congratulations to Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar on being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011!!!!
My personal feelings are that this probably should have happened a long time ago. But whether you were an apologist or a critic of Blyleven’s candidacy, it’s good to see that this yearly discussion is finally OVER.
There is likely to be a lot of discussion about his stats yet today but from now on, they will never be used as some sort of justification or argument. They are now simply the career stats of a Hall of Famer.
I’m watching him be interviewed by Marnie at the moment and it’s funny to hear him describe his reaction as “relief” and to admit that if it hadn’t happened for him this year, he would have been angry. You know what? I love the honesty and the bluntness. If it were me, yeah, after 14 years and being told no every year, I’d have been angry too but there just aren’t many out there that would be comfortable enough to admit it. It’s very touching that his first call after being notified was to his mother. Knowing how much his family means to him and having heard so many of the stories of his childhood, I know that it’s really important that was the first person to hear. I know he’s happy about it but I think it all comes down to the same feeling we ALL have – we’re glad it’s done and we can go on to the next discussion now!
Congratulations Bert, I think it’s a well-deserved honor.
Here’s the official ballot results from Baseball Writers of America‘s site:
2011 Hall of Fame voting
| Name | Votes | Pct. |
| Roberto Alomar | 523 | 90.0% |
| Bert Blyleven | 463 | 79.7% |
| Barry Larkin | 361 | 62.1% |
| Jack Morris | 311 | 53.5% |
| Lee Smith | 263 | 45.3% |
| Jeff Bagwell | 242 | 41.7% |
| Tim Raines | 218 | 37.5% |
| Edgar Martinez | 191 | 32.9% |
| Alan Trammell | 141 | 24.3% |
| Larry Walker | 118 | 20.3% |
| Mark McGwire | 115 | 19.8% |
| Fred McGriff | 104 | 17.9% |
| Dave Parker | 89 | 15.3% |
| Don Mattingly | 79 | 13.6% |
| Dale Murphy | 73 | 12.6% |
| Rafael Palmeiro | 64 | 11.0% |
| Juan Gonzalez | 30 | 5.2% |
| Harold Baines | 28 | 4.8% |
| John Franco | 27 | 4.6% |
| Kevin Brown | 12 | 2.1% |
| Tino Martinez | 6 | 1.0% |
| Marquis Grissom | 4 | 0.7% |
| Al Leiter | 4 | 0.7% |
| John Olerud | 4 | 0.7% |
| B.J. Surhoff | 2 | 0.3% |
| Bret Boone | 1 | 0.2% |
| Benito Santiago | 1 | 0.2% |
| Carlos Baerga | 0 | 0.0% |
| Lenny Harris | 0 | 0.0% |
| Bobby Higginson | 0 | 0.0% |
| Charles Johnson | 0 | 0.0% |
| Raul Mondesi | 0 | 0.0% |
| Kirk Rueter | 0 | 0.0% |
Note: 436 votes (75%) required for enshrinement. Induction July 24, 2011 in Cooperstown, N.Y.