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.
I’ve been able to watch the coverage of FSN online from work and I have to say it’s hard not to get a bit emotional when you know how much it means to Bert. The highlight to me was watching him autograph the ball Marnie had for him to sign, adding the HOF 2011 to his signature. I recall reading/hearing other HOFers talk about what it meant to them to be able to add that subscript to their autographs and I suspect Bert’s hand was shaking just a bit as he did so for the first time.
Congratulations, Bert.
“relief” is about the right word. Along with “finally”.
And, hey, Bret Boone at least got one vote. Contact!
By the way… now that he’s a Hall of Famer and there’s no longer a bullpen arm wearing #28, it’s time for the Twins to officially retire that number and put him on the list to be honored with a statue on/near the Plaza at some point.
Blowing a new gaping hole in the foundation of Target Field to create a new “Gate 28” could prove a bit more problematic, I suppose. Maybe they could address the retired numbers of Hrbek (14), Blyleven (28) and Jackie Robinson (42) by making Hrbek share his gate and rename Gate 14 the “Numbers that are multiples of 14 Gate”… might be kind of a mouthfull and tough to fit on a ticket, though.
I think the Twins already had plans for making a Bert statue. I remember one of the FO execs (Dave St Peter maybe?) saying on the radio when the Twins announced they were building the Clock Tower and other things that it was a good possibility that someone will be getting a statue, but when pressed he wouldnt name names.
I remember that, too, James… I speculated then that Oliva would be the next to get bronzed and to be honest, I think he deserves that honor before Bert does.
Congrats, Bert!
… We have *enough* holes in stadia around here, though, Thank you very much.
chew… for some reason, I think Bert would find it humorous to have the hole in the middle of the roof at the ol’ Dome designated “Gate 28”. Then again, I could be wrong.