Bert Blyleven turns 55 today!

[OctoFranco]

That's right, happy birthday to a REAL RBI pitcher.

It was 55 years ago today that Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born in the little Dutch town of Zeist.

Bert is the man as far as RBI starters go.  Best pitcher in the game to my mind, with Rocket and the Doctor close behind.  Very unique breed of pitcher, hella-big curve with the perfect pitch speed to utilize that curve to its fullest extent.  Similar to 'Nando here, but the big difference is his game-leading 56 stamina, which can result in him singlehandedly shutting a team down for a full 7 innings or longer.  The strategy with batting against Bertus is to waste pitches, but this very often results in three-pitch strikeouts, and is brutal on team morale.

He may also singlehandedly redeem Minnie as a squad. 

Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag, Bertus!

[Big Hath]

wait, you're saying he WASN'T born in the US?!?

That's it.  I'm boycotting my poster level.

[BeefMaster]

I don't play much curve pitch against other people, but I think Bert is probably the best.  Stamina is an underrated quality in a pitcher (moreso in 1SP, I'd think, but JoeDirt still wears down pitchers in 2SP), especially when he has such great curve ability.

He'll lose some points with the curve-pitch crowd because he's a righty - he may struggle against righthander-heavy teams like Boston, because it's hard to nibble the outside corner with a same-handed pitcher.  Tudor and Nando might rank above him in that case, although I'm not sure.

Bert should be in the Hall.

[ultimate7]

His stamina is 54, I believe

[BDawk]

...in bed?

[Stock]

I think I agree (mostly) with BM.
Depending on who you are playing against and what team he is against, he is probably the anywhere from the best in the game to possibly the 3rd best.
If you are playing with only one starter per game I could understand the arguments for him being the best, regardless.

For me, it is too difficult to rank pitchers perfectly since it varies on what the rules are and what team they are pitching against (and what human player is the opponent as well.)

[fknmclane]

He's definitely top four.  The only thing that hurts him is being a righty.  I prefer using a lefty every time which is why I'd suck off Johnny Tudor and not even charge a grilled cheese sammich.

[TβG]

bert blyleven was known for being a prankster in the clubhouse.  his signature move was the hotfoot, where you squeeze a bit of lighter fluid on someone's shoe/cleat and light it on fire.

his son todd played for cypress college.  hooray.