Blyleven, "Bert" (Rik Aalbert)
Baseball
b. April 6, 1951, Zeist, Holland
Blyleven grew up in California and began his professional baseball career in 1969. A right-hander, he joined the AL's Minnesota Twins during the 1970 season and was named the leagues' rookie pitcher of the year by The Sporting News, going 10-9 with a 3.18 ERA.
His best season was 1973, when he had a 20-17 record and led the league with 9 shutouts, 40 starts, and 25 complete games. Minnesota traded him to the Texas Rangers during the 1976 season and on September 22, 1977, he pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the California Angels.
The following season, he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After struggling to an 8-13 record in 1980, he went to the Cleveland Indians. Because of arm trouble, Blyleven missed much of the 1982 season and had only 24 starts in 1983, but he bounced back with a 19-7 record and a 2.87 ERA in 1984.
Blyleven returned to Minnesota during the 1985 season and the Twins traded him to California after he had a 10-17 record in 1988. He was named the AL's comeback player of the year for his 17-5 record and 2.73 ERA in 1989, and the 300 victory milestone seemed within his reach.
However, he missed the entire 1991 season with a sore arm and ended his career with an 8-12 record for California in 1992. He had a 287-250 record with 60 shutouts and a 3.31 ERA. Blyleven struck out 3,701 hitters and walked 1,322 in 4,970 1/3 innings.