Blyleven, Alomar fall just short in Hall vote

[February 04, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Bert Blyleven is starting to believe.

In his 13th year on the Hall of Fame ballot, the Dutch pitcher with the neatly groomed beard and big-breaking curveball came within five votes of election to Cooperstown on Wednesday.

Five votes! That's close enough to make a man rant.

But for Blyleven, the latest results represent progress. After waiting more than a decade for his accomplishments to be fully appreciated, he's a just whisper shy of enshrinement with two tries left on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot.

"The writers are finally getting it," Blyleven said in a telephone interview. "Hopefully, this will lead to getting over that hurdle next year."

He wasn't the only player who barely missed.

Second baseman Roberto Alomar, considered a shoo-in by some, fell eight votes short of the 75 percent needed. He received 397 votes (73.7 percent), the most of any first-year candidate not elected. It marked the first time in BBWAA balloting that two players fell fewer than 10 votes shy in one year.

"I feel disappointed, but next year hopefully I make it in," Alomar said at his home in New York, where his son cried. "At least I was close. ... I'm glad that this is over."

Andre Dawson was the lone player elected Wednesday, getting in on his ninth attempt. He was chosen on 420 of 539 ballots (77.9 percent), 15 more votes than he needed after falling 44 short last year.

Dawson, who went 8 for 41 (.195) with two homers against Blyleven, thinks the right-hander belongs in Cooperstown, too.

"I was optimistic that we both probably would get in and I was kind of prematurely thinking and looking forward to that," Dawson said. "It's awful to even think about five votes as the decision between not getting in the Hall of Fame at this particular time and now having to have to wait another year.

"It could have very easily been me. We were both right there at about 65-67 percent (last year). And you know, my heart goes out for him. I feel for him because, five votes -- it's a little hard to swallow."

Still, the close calls bode well for Blyleven and Alomar in the future. The highest percentage for a player who didn't enter the Hall in a later year was 63.4 by Gil Hodges in 1983, his final time on the ballot.

Blyleven, now a Minnesota Twins television analyst, spent years lobbying for a spot in Cooperstown, then grew tired of defending his numbers. He received 400 votes (74.2 percent) this year, up from 338 in 2009.

"The good and the bad," he said. "The good is, my percentage went up a lot. The bad is, I was only five votes short."

The argument against Blyleven is that he was never a dominant pitcher. He finished 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA, but he ranks fifth in career strikeouts (3,701), ninth in shutouts (60) and 14th in innings pitched (4,970).

He also went 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA in the postseason, contributing to World Series winners in 1979 with Pittsburgh and 1987 with Minnesota.

When evaluating pitchers, many baseball writers and analysts have turned their focus in recent years from wins and losses to modern stats such as WHIP and FIP. Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award last season with only 16 wins, while NL winner Tim Lincecum had 15.

"The criteria seems to fluctuate from year to year," Dawson said. "In my opinion, if you're a Hall of Famer, you're a Hall of Famer."

But the evolution seems to be helping Blyleven gain support.

"The big thing is, I was only in two All-Star games. Big deal. I never won a Cy Young Award. Like my wife says, Cy Young never won a Cy Young Award. There's a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame that never won a Cy Young Award," he said.

Alomar led Toronto to consecutive World Series titles in 1992-93. The 12-time All-Star finished with a .300 career batting average, 2,724 hits, 210 homers, 474 steals and 10 Gold Gloves.

But just like Blyleven, Alomar will have to wait another year.

"I'm a little disappointed, but you know, I just got a phone call from Harmon Killebrew and he just said, 'Hey, you know, hang in there, you're going to be in there,'" Blyleven said in an interview on MLB Network.

"I think that's right. Brooks Robinson sent me a note the other day, you know, 'Hey, your time is coming,' so it's just wait. Five votes short is kind of, you know, a little bit on the sad side, but my percentages jumped up a lot from last year and I really appreciate that."

[Associated Press; By MIKE FITZPATRICK]

AP Sports Writers Ronald Blum in New York and Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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