FanHouse Bert Blyleven

Bert Blyleven has done some crazy things in his day (although, granted, none as ridiculous as a group of people refusing to recognize his achievements and grant him entry to Cooperstown), but his most recent exploit may take the cake: Blyleven ate worms on television before this past Thursday's Minnesota Twins game. He did so to raise money for a Parkinson's charity, and while the cause is certainly noble, I don't recommend watching if you're eating lunch at your desk.

Bert Blyleven doesn't have it easy. Every year there's a Hall of Fame vote and every year he's a little bit closer to getting enshrined, but not quite close enough. The guy is fifth all-time in strikeouts, he posted dominant numbers, and yet, there's still a group of people with votes who want him kept out. Why, I have no idea. And yet, there will probably be people who vote for Curt Schilling and Jack Morris, but not Blyleven. But don't listen to me gripe about it. Let Blyleven do that! Via AA.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

The Hall of Fame talk has begun to die down and baseball fans are starting to look forward to that oh-so-exciting date -- February 15th, when pitchers and catchers report -- but before we get there, let's look ahead at the players who will be eligible for enshrinement in Cooperstown for the first time in 2010.

It's not very surprising, but Bert Blyleven missed the Hall of Fame again this year. The good news for Bert, and people that want to see him elected into the Hall, is that his vote percentage increased again (all the way to 62.7 percent) and he has three more cracks at election before being turned over to the Veterans Committee. If it falls to them, they may eventually put him into the Hall, but likely long after all of us are dead.

Rather than brain you over the head with a ton of statistics on why Blyleven should or should not be in, let's start with the debate. When he broke on to the ballot in 1998, he only received 17.55 percent of the vote. Since 2001, his vote total has trended upward and a heated debate has sprung up along with it.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is expanding to include the giant resume of Rickey Henderson. Much to the chagrin of Corky Simpson -- who is "not a Rickey guy" -- Henderson easily cake-walked to induction in his first year of eligibility, garnering a whopping 94.8 percent of the vote.

Joining the stolen base, walks, and runs scored king will be Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice.

Everyone likes to debate whether their favorite player is worthy of the Hall of Fame, but there are fewer than 600 people in this country who actually get to make that decision. Later this afternoon, the esteemed Baseball Writers Association of America will make their collective opinion known, revealing the results of this year's voting.

Only 23 players appeared on this year's ballot, the fewest ever, although voters are free to vote for any of the 60 players who are eligible. There are too many eligible candidates to mention here, but here are some names you should be looking for during today's announcement.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

The 2009 Hall of Fame ballot was released Monday, and with it is certain to come heated debate right up until and after the voting results are revealed on Jan. 12, 2009. This year's class of candidates is similar to last year's, in that it's a shallow group.

There is only one sure-fire Hall of Famer among the 23 candidates, which means this is a critical vote for the borderline players who have been up for election on multiple occasions. Now is the time for those borderline guys to get over the top or make a big push to lay the groundwork for election in future years.

After the jump is a breakdown of the ballot, complete with what I think will happen and what should happen with this year's class of Cooperstown contenders.

From the Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

It's the end of the year for baseball. That means we get to talk about MVP and Cy Young Awards. Yay. Because, really, nothing says "important post-season awards" like a group of journalists who don't actually watch every team in baseball putting together a vote for which player(s) deserve to be recognized based primarily on their proximity -- in a team sport -- to the playoffs.

That's somewhat sarcastic of course, but in essence, it is what the MVP and Cy Young awards (both registered trademarks of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA)!) have become. They are meaningful, because our country has allowed them to become that way.

But the primary problem with these awards is that they are not fairly established -- in terms of voters -- and are most certainly misguided -- in terms of qualifications. Enough so that we are all, for the most part, very confused about what the MVP award should mean.

Former Major League pitcher Bert Blyleven had a pretty damn good career in his 22 years in the big leagues, most of which were spent with the Minnesota Twins. Yet in the sixteen years since he said goodbye to the game, he's yet to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

In his career, Blyleven won 287 games with an ERA of 3.90 and an ERA+ of 118. Unfortunately, those numbers apparently aren't good enough for Hall of Fame status, and Bert has become better known in recent years for dropping an F-bomb on live television. The guys over at Big League Stew recently sat down with an interview to talk to Blyleven about that incident, as well as his thoughts on not being in the Hall of Fame. Fortunately any serious baseball discussion was avoided for a much better topic.

Farting, or more specifically, Bert's love of it.

Q: Speaking of pride, what about this T-shirt you've been photographed wearing that says, "I [heart] to fart"?

BB: I LOVE to fart.

Q: What's wrong with you?

BB: I'm honest. Have you ever farted?

"Under The Gun" takes a look at one player from each team who will bear all the pressure for the upcoming '08 season.

Now I know what you're thinking, who the hell is Carlos Gomez, and why is he feeling any pressure? Good questions, and I don't blame you for asking them. After all, so far in FanHouse's Under the Gun series we've focused on players who are key new additions to their team, or are in contract years, or are expected to get their team over the proverbial hump.

The fact is though, there really isn't that much pressure in Minnesota this season. After trading Johan Santana to the Mets, and losing Torii Hunter to the Angels, nobody is expecting the Twins to win this season. So it was hard to find any one player on the Twins roster who is going to be feeling a lot of heat this season.

Sure, I could have taken the angle of Joe Mauer being the face of the franchise, and needing to avoid more time on the disabled list, or I could have possibly gone with Francisco Liriano and the fact his arm may snap off on any pitch.

In the end though, I just couldn't ignore Gomez.

Think about it, not only did he come over to the Twins from the Mets in a trade for the greatest pitcher in Twins history (unless you ask Bert Blyleven or Jack Morris), but he also will be playing centerfield where he replaces the most popular player on the team since Kirby Puckett.

The poor kid has no chance.

Carlos can have himself a great 2008 season for the Twins and he's still not going to be as good as Santana or Hunter. If that's not pressure, I don't know what is.