Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images file

Bert Blyleven was 287-250 in 22 seasons, but his career was about more than wins and losses.

COMPARING CAREERS
It is hard to win games, for sure. Even so, my 287 wins ranks 27th on the all-time list. Only six players ahead of me on the list are not in the Hall of Fame. Four of them (Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson) are not yet eligible, but should get in once they are.

Let’s look at some of my other key statistics:

• 3,701 strikeouts, fifth all time: Of the 16 pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts, all of the eligible players are in the Hall. The players who are not yet eligible (Johnson, Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz) could all get in.
• 4,970 innings pitched, 14th all time: All of the players ahead of me are in Cooperstown except for Maddux, who will be.
• 250 career losses, 10th all time: It might seem odd that I would bring this up, but when you pitch a long time you tend to rack up losses. Again, wins and losses are difficult to control. Of the nine players with more losses than me, only Jack Powell is not in the Hall of Fame, and he had a losing record at 245-254. The great Cy Young lost more games than anyone at 316.
• 430 home runs allowed, 8th all time: I have been knocked for allowing too many home runs, but Robin Roberts (505), Fergie Jenkins (484), Phil Niekro (482), Don Sutton (472) and Warren Spahn (434) are all in Cooperstown.
• 242 complete games, 91st all time: Hall-of-Famers like Tom Seaver (231), Nolan Ryan (222), Jim Palmer (211), Don Sutton (178) and Don Drysdale (167) all threw fewer complete games than I did. In 1985 I went the distance 24 times, and no one has thrown that many since. Fernando Valenzuela threw 20 complete games in 1986 and Roger Clemens tossed 18 in 1987. Since 2000, no one has thrown more than nine complete games in a season.
• 60 shutouts, 9th all time: Shutouts are the absolute best thing a pitcher can do. Every pitcher with at least 50 career shutouts is in the Hall of Fame except for me. By comparison to the great pitchers of recent times, Clemens threw 46 shutouts, Randy Johnson had 37 and Glavine had 25.

Of my 60 shutouts, 15 came by a score of 1-0, the toughest, most pressure-packed situation in which to operate. By comparison, Steve Carlton won 12 shutouts by a 1-0 score, Jim Palmer won 9, and Phil Niekro 6. Of the recent greats, Randy Johnson tossed four, while Clemens and Martinez each have thrown three 1-0 shutouts.

TO THE VOTING BOOTH
Thank you for allowing me to state my case. I know a lot of the voters never saw me pitch, after all I haven’t thrown one since 1992. And that’s fine, I don’t have a problem with the way the system is set up. All I ask is that the voters do their homework. Don’t look just at my wins and losses, but look at all of my numbers. Look at innings pitched and strikeouts. Look at walks and WHIP. Look at shutouts and complete games. See where I stack up against pitchers from my era, especially those already in Cooperstown.

It has been a long wait, and I could easily end up continuing to wait. But one thing that has been rewarding to me is when I run into great Hall of Fame pitchers like Bob Feller or Tom Seaver and they tell me to be patient and that my time is coming. It means a lot to me when my peers come to me and bring it up, offering words of encouragement.

The pitchers who are already in the Hall of Fame know how hard it is to win a ballgame. How hard it is to put together a career like I have.

Who knows, maybe 13 will be a lucky number for me.

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