Bert Blyleven

Rik Aalbert Blyleven (born Blijleven; April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1992. He made his major league debut at age 19 for the Minnesota Twins. In the middle of the 1976 season, he was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he threw a no-hitter in his final start for the team. He won his first World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979. After being traded to the Cleveland Indians, Blyleven initially struggled with injuries before enjoying a late-career resurgence, finishing third in the Cy Young Award voting in back-to-back years, with Cleveland in 1984 and in 1985, a season split between the Indians and Twins. A renowned curveball pitcher, he was a two-time All-Star and a World Series champion. Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. He won 287 games, 27th-most all-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-most all-time. In 2011, Blyleven was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. From 1996 to 2020 he served as a color commentator for Minnesota Twins television broadcasts.