Bert Blyleven

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 200 lb

BornApril 6, 1951 · Zeist, Utrecht, Netherlands

MLB debutJune 5, 1970

Final gameOctober 4, 1992

Seasons22 (1970–1992)

Minnesota Twins 1970–1976; Texas Rangers 1976–1977; Pittsburgh Pirates 1978–1980; Cleveland Indians 1981–1985; Minnesota Twins 1985–1988; California Angels 1989–1990; California Angels 1992

Percentile snapshot

1989 season — qualified pitchers

33.8

53.2

80.5

97.4

77.9

SHO

96.1

225

19.5

70.1

93.5

131

54.5

70.1

241.0

83.1

ERA

2.73

90.9

WHIP

1.116

K/9

4.89

35.1

FIP

3.17

80.5

FIP-

82.8

84.4

ERA+

140.3

93.5

sWAR

5.5

96.1

of 78 qualified 1989 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

117.1

86.3

sWAR

81.0

99.8

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1970	27	58	50	2	7	0	1	1	25	.140	.157	.140	.297	-32.9	-17.5	.142	2.6
1971	38	100	91	3	12	1	2	1	37	.132	.151	.143	.293	-35.4	-16.7	.141	4.9
1972	39	107	94	9	15	2	6	2	36	.160	.177	.181	.358	-14.5	4.8	.171	4.6
1973	40	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	8.7
1974	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6.4
1975	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5
1976	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5
1977	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.9
1978	37	93	85	4	11	2	11	1	35	.129	.140	.153	.292	-36.7	-19.1	.138	4.1
1979	38	85	70	1	9	1	3	0	33	.129	.129	.143	.271	-45.9	-27.0	.125	2.8
1980	37	71	61	0	5	1	2	0	27	.082	.097	.098	.195	-65.7	-45.6	.094	1.3
1981	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.1
1982	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.1
1984	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.8
1985	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6.5
1986	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.5
1987	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.3
1988	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-1.3
1989	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5
1990	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.9
1992	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.1

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1970	27	25	10	9	5	1	143	58	47	135	17	164.0	3.18	1.159	7.41	3.03	80.8	117.6	2.6
1971	38	38	16	15	17	5	267	87	59	224	21	278.3	2.81	1.171	7.24	2.42	68.9	124.8	4.9
1972	39	38	17	17	11	3	247	87	69	228	22	287.3	2.73	1.100	7.14	2.50	78.2	117.4	4.6
1973	40	40	20	17	25	9	296	91	67	258	16	325.0	2.52	1.117	7.14	2.33	59.3	156.3	8.7
1974	37	37	17	17	19	3	244	83	77	249	14	281.0	2.66	1.142	7.98	2.36	63.4	140.2	6.4
1975	35	35	15	10	20	3	219	92	84	233	24	275.7	3.00	1.099	7.61	2.96	76.8	128.1	5.5
1976	36	36	13	16	18	6	283	95	81	219	14	297.7	2.87	1.223	6.62	2.70	75.2	124.7	5.5
1977	30	30	14	12	15	5	181	71	69	182	20	234.7	2.72	1.065	6.98	3.27	80.2	149.8	5.9
1978	34	34	14	10	11	4	217	82	66	182	17	243.7	3.03	1.161	6.72	2.92	79.4	121.5	4.1
1979	37	37	12	5	4	0	238	95	92	172	21	237.3	3.60	1.390	6.52	3.63	94.0	107.3	2.8
1980	34	32	8	13	5	2	219	92	59	168	20	216.7	3.82	1.283	6.98	3.21	87.6	95.9	1.3
1981	20	20	11	7	9	1	145	51	40	107	9	159.3	2.88	1.161	6.04	2.78	76.1	126.7	3.1
1982	4	4	2	2	0	0	16	11	11	19	2	20.3	4.87	1.328	8.41	3.72	90.7	84.3	0.0
1983	24	24	7	10	5	0	160	68	44	123	8	156.3	3.91	1.305	7.08	2.95	70.1	107.7	2.1
1984	33	32	19	7	12	4	204	78	74	170	19	245.0	2.87	1.135	6.24	3.35	82.1	142.2	5.8
1985	37	37	17	16	24	5	264	103	75	206	23	293.7	3.16	1.154	6.31	3.21	76.1	134.0	6.5
1986	36	36	17	14	16	3	262	121	58	215	50	271.7	4.01	1.178	7.12	4.35	101.9	106.6	3.5
1987	37	37	15	12	8	1	249	119	101	196	46	267.0	4.01	1.311	6.61	4.88	106.4	114.3	4.3
1988	33	33	10	17	7	0	240	125	51	145	21	207.3	5.43	1.404	6.29	3.71	91.6	74.6	-1.3
1989	33	33	17	5	8	5	225	73	44	131	14	241.0	2.73	1.116	4.89	3.17	82.8	140.3	5.5
1990	23	23	8	7	2	0	163	78	25	69	15	134.0	5.24	1.403	4.63	3.95	103.2	73.0	-0.9
1992	25	24	8	12	1	0	150	70	29	70	17	133.0	4.74	1.346	4.74	4.17	105.5	83.4	0.1

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

699

514

451

RBI

193

.1308

OBP

.1441

SLG

.1463

OPS

.2904

Pitching

G (P)

692

131st-most career G (P)

685

11th-most career GS

287

27th-most career W

250

10th-most career L

242

91st-most career CG

SHO

9th-most career SHO

4,970

14th-most career IP

SO (P)

3,701

5th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,322

29th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.314

321st-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1980

165th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.70

250th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	TB
1971-09-05	ATH @ MIN Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	2
1971-08-17	CLE @ MIN Gameday	3	0	2	0	0	2
1978-06-16	PIT @ ATL Gameday	3	1	2	0	0	2
1978-07-04	WSH @ PIT Gameday	2	0	1	1	3	2
1978-08-24	PIT @ ATL Gameday	3	0	1	1	3	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1986-08-01	ATH @ MIN Gameday	9.0	2	1	1	1	15	1
1974-08-30	BOS @ MIN Gameday	9.0	4	2	0	2	14	0
1977-07-22	TEX @ BAL Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	1	14	0
1986-09-24	KC @ MIN Gameday	9.0	9	2	2	0	14	1
1975-08-27	MIN @ MIL Gameday	11.0	6	0	0	1	13	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 2011 (BBWAA)

2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.