Bert Blyleven was a better pitcher than Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton, but they are in the Hall of Fame, and he is not, largely because they got to 300 wins. But that was mostly because they, not he, pitched in pitcher-friendly ballparks (plus Ryan and Sutton spent large portions of their careers in the DH-less NL).
One way to reduce the “home-park advantage” when comparing pitchers is to compare their career Earned Run Averages ON THE ROAD (thus equalizing the playing field).
Bert Blyleven’s Career ERA on the Road: 3.34
Nolan Ryan’s Career ERA on the Road: 3.73
Don Sutton’s Career ERA on the Road: 3.77
Thus, Blyleven outpitched Ryan and Sutton when comparing apples-to-apples, even though they “appeared” to be better since they pitched in more pitcher-favorable leagues/parks.
Plus, Blyleven was one of the greatest post-season pitchers ever.
Blyleven was 5-1 in the post-season (2.47 ERA), and won 2 World Series Championships. (Head to head, Blyleven outpitched both Jack Morris (Morris’ only loss in his first 8 post-season decisions) and Jim Palmer (who up to then was 7-2 lifetime in the postseason).
In the regular season, Blyleven outpitched two of his HOF peers, and in the postseason, Blyleven outpitched two of the top post-season legends of his era.
Blyleven deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
Roy,
It was great meeting you last night, and I checked out the stats – you have a great point – and from straight up stats he should make it. 287 victories, with a 3.31 ERA – Nice