"I know I've got a lock on the Dutch Hall of Fame."

"It enrages me to see only certain players singled out for the Hall of Fame because they were born with a God-given specialty. When I take my kids to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I want them to experience the full array of talents that make the game what it is today, not just the larger-than-life freaks of nature. I want them to know that you don't have to be the biggest or the strongest to reach your goals, and that hard work and perseverance are also rewarded."

"I want to stay around longer than the pitchers who were at the top when I came into the big leagues. I don't want to be gone and have all the old guys — Seaver, Carlton, Ryan and Sutton — still pitching. I got rid of Palmer, now I want to outlast the rest of them."

"One curve I'll always remember was when I was pitching for Pittsburgh. Terry Kennedy was a young player with St. Louis. I threw him an 0-2 curve and it snapped. Terry's reaction was to swing straight down, like he was chopping the plate with an axe. It was the last out of the inning. After I ran off the mound, I looked over at the St. Louis' dugout. There were players rolling around on the floor, laughing. Poor Terry. I'll have to admit that was a hell of a curveball."

"The 16 years have gone so fast. I came to Minnesota as a 19-year-old kid. Marv Grissom was the pitching coach, an old-timer who taught me quite a bit. Marv didn't like the way I stepped toward the plate. I had a tendency to throw across my body. So,he took me off to the side at Met Stadium and put a chair on the mound. If I threw across my body, I would step on the chair. Marv was trying to hurt me. I fooled him. I started stepping the right way."

"The problem with being Comeback Player of the Year is it means you have to go somewhere before you can come back."

"There were rumors the Twins had been trying to get me, so I was wondering how the crowd would react when I was introduced. The cheer felt good."

"You look at those (career statistical) categories and say — I'm going to be honest with you — why the (heck) am I not in the Hall of Fame? I'm not going to kiss the asses of the writers. I put numbers up that are Hall of Fame numbers. Until they recognize that, you can only look at January sixth (6th) and say, 'It's another year.'"

"Will I be deceased by the time I go in? Then what good is it? They vote guys in who've been dead thirty (30) or forty (40) years. I'm sure those guys are rolling over in their graves with excitement."

"Bert (Blyleven), forget the wins and losses. You finished almost five thousand innings. You pitched in seven-hundred (700) games. You struck out almost four thousand guys. What more does one arm have to do, to prove to people that this was a gift from God, and a guy who busted his butt for twenty-two (22) years, and completed two-hundred forty-two (242) games, and shut out sixty teams?" - Pitcher Rob Dibble

"Bert's delivery always has been smooth, loose, a lot of leg drive, everything going forward at the same time. It's the type of delivery that allows a guy to hold up year after year." - Twins Manager Ray Miller

"(Bert) Blyleven was known as one of the more colorful players of his era. He was often involved in clubhouse pranks, and was especially known to be a master at giving the "hot-foot." The hot foot was a classic baseball prank where one player would sneak up on another and set his shoe laces on fire." - TheBaseballPage.com

"(Bert) Blyleven's supporters insist that his victory total suffered because he pitched for a lot of bad teams, but I dispute that." - BBWAA Member Jim Caper

"I can identify with them. The first couple years of eligibility, I was curious, wondering where I would stand. After a year or two, I knew I was not going to get in through the writers. In Bert (Blyleven) and Jack's (Morris) case, I still think they should, and I still think there should be hope there because of the things they accomplished." - Jim Kaat

"It (his curveball) was nasty, I'll tell you that. Enough to make your knees buckle. Bert (Blyleven) was a terrific pitcher — a dominating pitcher." - Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson

"Possessing the premier curveball of his era, Bert Blyleven carved out a great career despite frequent accusations of underachievement." - BaseballLibrary.com

Quotes From & About Bert Blyleven