Blyleven: Finally gets his Hall of Fame wish

Bert Blyleven is proof that if you harp on yourself for 15 years about how you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, eventually the writers will put you in - as long as you have at least one notable career statistical achievement. Blyleven is 5th in career strikeouts with 3,701.

Blyleven has spent previous years on national media outlets expressing his displeasure with not being elected into the Hall. On and on he would go about not being recognized, making sure people really gave his career some thought. This year he finally got his wish. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with Roberto Alomar, on Sunday in Cooperstown.

Blyleven has waited 14 years for Sunday.

Is Blyleven a Hall of Famer? It's not just Blyleven, but others in the same category as him. For instance, Andre Dawson. "The Hawk", like Blyleven, waited an extended period before getting the number of votes for induction last year. Dawson got in on his ninth ballot, Blyleven on his 14th, second-to-last year of eligibility.

My question is: do the voters feel like 'who are we to say this guy shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame?'  I looks like that's the case for Blyleven. He would have bitched and moaned beyond belief if they would have stiffed him completely. This year the ballot was weak and the voters had heard enough from Bert, who would have taken to the Twins broadcasts with his somber if denied again.

The couple different schools of thought on Hall of Fame voting must be applied here, and for all cases. There isn't a right or wrong answer, necessarily, and both are very compelling arguments.

HOF criteria #1: You don't even have to think about it. Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds. Those type of players. This has been made nationally known by Skip Bayless, who teaches this school of thought. "It's not the Hall-of-Very-Good."

In order to determine if someone like Blyleven or Dawson gets into the Hall of Fame, you have to go and look at the numbers. At least I do. I know about them, but they don't shout "Hall of Fame" to me. Because of that, these guys wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.

However, this same school of thought can be applied to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Both reached the levels of "Fame" that jumps out at you. They did things never done before. I don't have to even think about what Big Mac and Sosa did.

If you did back and look you'd see Sosa hit over 30 home runs 11 times (10 consecutive), while Dawson hit over 30 homers three times in a 21-year career. Sosa hit over 40 home runs seven times. He hit 66, 63, and 64 home runs in '98, '99 and '01 and DIDN'T LEAD THE LEAGUE. (I'm simply looking at the record book, this is not commentary on steroids.)

HOF criteria #1.1: A sub-division of the first school - You can't tell the story and history of baseball without this player. Examples: Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, McGwire and Sosa, Roger Clemens, Bonds. Those are a few omissions that make it in with this argument. I think we could get all the major details of Major League Baseball history without hearing Bert Blyleven's name.

HOF criteria #2: You get in based on career numbers and overall contributions to the game. With this, you pour over stats. You compare to others in the Hall of Fame. You use common sense. This is where having the fifth most strikeouts of all time, to go along with 287 wins, nearly 5,000 innings and 22 years of service pays off. Rafael Palmeiro, Sosa and Rose come to mind with this school of thought.

Dawson and Blyleven have career numbers that, if you look at them long enough, wear you down. Blyleven more so than Dawson, based on sheer volume of numbers. Dawson was a very good player but one season with 49 home runs and 137 RBIs shouldn't put you in.

I look at all schools of thought when determining my vote. I believe I would have done what the voters did in this case with Blyleven - looked at numbers for 10+ years, waited until time was running out, and voted him in. Dawson, I'm not sure I could have gotten there, unless in the 15th year, you simply say 'Why not?'

The Hall of Fame is the ultimate career accomplishment, so I know why Blyleven was so vocal about wanting in. I understand his motives. The strikeouts got him in, which means that big breaking curveball had a big role in Sunday's induction. I hope the 14-year wait was worth it.