Blogging Bert: August 1 Memorable for the Dutchman

Bert Blyleven is one of my favorite baseball players. Partially because of his antics and partially because of his subtle dominance on the mound. I have a small collection of his baseball cards.

Born in the Netherlands, he immigrated to the US as a child and developed an interest in baseball growing up in the California during a period of Dodgers success. He ended up playing ball in high school and then was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in1969.

Eventually, Bert made his major league debut at age 19 in 1970 and so did his curveball. Blyleven and the curveball will forever be connected. And also circles. But that came much later.

Today we look at August 1; one day with 2 Blyleven milestones.

First, August 1, 1985. Bert has bounced around the league a few times since the Twins offloaded him to the Rangers in 1976. In that time he threw a no-hitter, won a World Series, sat out 1982 season due to injury, and appeared in his 2nd All Star Game. He was on a Cleveland team that was going nowhere. Then on trade deadline he found himself traded to Minnesota who were only slightly better. But this gave the Twins a solid veteran starter to bolster their rotation since their 3rd and 4th starters John Butcher and Ken Schrom were average at best with Butcher showing more promise. Both Schrom and Butcher would find themselves in Cleveland the next season. Schrom would fare better with Cleveland in 1986. Butcher would not. 

The Blyleven trade was one of those moves that would eventually help the Twins win the 1987 World Series. Moving Butcher to Cleveland brought in Neal Heaton who would eventually be part of the deal that brought closer Jeff Reardon to Minnesota. But first the trade intended to lift the Twins out of the doldrums of the early 1980s where they rarely were a threat to win the AL West Division. When Blyleven was last on the mound for the Twins in the 1970s, the team had a winning record and was in contention for the division title. 

Bert joined the team in California and pitched a complete game loss to the Angels on the 3rd. Funny connection- he was playing against his former Twins skipper Gene Mauch and his former teammate Rod Carew. The Angels' starting pitcher was also a former Twin, Geoff Zahn, as was the replacement 2nd baseman Rob Wilfong. And one more oddity, Roy Smalley, the player the Twin exchanged Blyleven for in 1976 with the Rangers was again on the Twins roster. And he is also the nephew of Gene Mauch. Smalley did not play in the game. He would play 3rd base during Bert's next start.

One high note, Bert struck out Reggie Jackson. There were just 2 strike outs in the game.

So much for making a triumphant return. Topps did not even produce a card for the transaction in their traded set.

A year later, August 1, 1986 in the Metrodome, Blyleven starts against Oakland. Both teams were in the cellar of the league with Oakland coming off a successful run of games. But Blyleven and the Twins were to be a formidable opponent. Blyleven started the game off nearly perfect until the 5th when Bruce Boche drilled a single. So far Bert had 6 strikeouts. He then added a 7th and 8th that brought him up to 3000 career strikeouts. Blyleven went on to strikeout 15 total for the complete game win. It was a personal best for Bert and tied the Twins record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a game. Oh and by the way the game was a 2-hitter.

Also notable, Kirby Puckett became the 7th Minnesota Twin to hit for the cycle in that game. Puckett downplayed his feat by suggesting Blyleven struck him out about 100 times. I have yet to verify that statistic.