The only Dutch born player in the Hall of Fame is the 86th inductee into the Baseball Hall of Immortals.
Rik Aalbert (Bert) Blyleven was born in Zeist, Holland but was raised in Southern California where he learned to love baseball.
Joining the Twins in 1970 at just 19 years old, Blyleven would start a streak of 10 seasons with double-digit wins, averaging 15 wins and more than 200 innings pitched each year. In 1973 he won 20 games for the first (and only) time, with career highs in innings (325), complete games (25), strikeouts (258) and shutouts (9).
Blyleven topped 200 strikeouts eight times over the course of his 22 seasons while also regularly posting ERAs in the top 10 in the league, achieving sub-3.00 nine times.
Often playing for poor performing teams, Blyleven finished his career with 287 wins, 3,701 strikeouts (5th all-time), 60 shutouts (9th all-time), 685 games started (11th all-time), and 4,970 innings pitched (14th all-time).
The pitcher with one of the best curveballs in history, Bert Blyleven is an Immortal.
For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.
