Here’s a “Traded” card for future Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven, who was smack in the middle of his storied career:
The trade that landed him in Pittsburgh was a blockbuster that included
four teams (Texas Rangers, Pirates, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets),
and icluded the likes of Al Oliver, Jon Matlack and Willie Montanez.
All told there were 10 players traded involved this transaction, and
definitely paid quick dividends for the Bucs, as they’d go on to win the
World Series the very next year, beating the Baltimore Orioles for
their second championship of the decade.
Blyleven would go on to pitch another 12 years before retiring with 287
wins, 3701 strikeouts and a very nice 3.31 earned run average with 60
shutouts over 692 games, almost all of them starts.
Yet he was denied entry into Cooperstown until his 14th year of eligibility!
I can never figure out these BBWA voters, even if I live to be 1000...