I was reading a post about Bert not being in Baseball's Hall of Fame so I looked at the stats of current
Hall of Fame / Pitchers There are a surprising number of pitchers that are much less deserving that Bert. Before looking into this I had assumed Jim Kaat was in the Hall. He's not either. The list of Dodgers in the Hall that don't deserve to be is long. This attests to the greater amount of press and historic lore around that franchise. Don Sutton it seems to me is in the hall of fame because he played for California teams, and was a media darling. Bert is every bit as worthy as Sutton. Bert's stats are comparible with a lot of notable Hall of Famers. I included Bob Gibson not because he's not deserving, but Bert's stats hold up with his.
As far as Jim Kaat, if you are a durable pitcher who lasts for TWENTY FIVE YEARS IN A SPORT, put that person in the Hall of Fame for durability if nothing else. He spanned 3 generations of athletes for God sake!
Here's a sample:
Don Sutton 23 years G 774 Starts 756 CG 178 Sho 58 IP 5282.1 Wins 324 Loss 256 ERA 3.26 K 3574 WHIP 1.142 4 WS 2 wins 3 loss .526 ERA
Jim Palmer 19 years G 558 Starts 521 CG 211 Sho 53 IP 3948.0 Wins 268 Loss 152 ERA 2.86 K 2212 WHIP 1.180 6 WS 4 wins 2 loss .320 ERA
Jim Bunning 17 years G 591 Starts 519 CG 151 Sho 40 IP 3760.1 Wins 224 Loss 184 ERA 3.27 K 2855 WHIP 1.179 NO POST SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Gibson 17 years G 528 Starts 482 CG 255 Sho 56 IP 3884.1 Wins 251 Loss 174 ERA 2.91 K 3117 WHIP 1.188 3 WS 7 wins 2 loss 1.89 ERA
Bert Blyleven 22 years G 692 Starts 685 CG 242 Sho 60 IP 4970.0 Wins 287 Loss 250 ERA 3.31 K 3701 WHIP 1.198 2 WS 2 wins 1 loss .235 ERA
Jim Kaat 25 years G 898 Starts 625 CG 180 Sho 31 IP 4530.1 Wins 283 Loss 237 ERA 3.45 K 2461 WHIP 1.259 2 WS 1 win 2 loss .333 ERA
