July 26, 1976: Blyleven triumphant with Rangers in return to the Met

Bert Blyleven was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1969 free-agent Draft (number 55 overall)1 as an 18-year-old graduate of Santiago High School in Garden Grove, California. Born in the Netherlands (April 6, 1951), the right-hander advanced quickly through the minor leagues, making his debut as a 19-year-old on June 5, 1970. His 10 wins helped Minnesota win the West Division title, and he pitched in relief against the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs.

Blyleven peaked at 20 wins in 1973, when he made the All-Star team. With a wicked curveball, he annually registered over 200 strikeouts. Contract negotiations with owner Calvin Griffith after his 20-win All-Star season were contentious. The next season saw Blyleven lose in arbitration and go on the disabled list for the first time (21 days in June 1975) with a sore shoulder. With the Peter Seitz arbitration hearing forever changing the game, Blyleven formally requested a trade after the 1975 season and refused to sign a contract, playing out his option, under the renewal clause,2 for the 1976 season.

On May 23, 1976, Blyleven won the 99th game of his career. After losing in Oakland on May 27, he had a chance to win his 100th game in front of Minnesota fans on May 31 against California but lost 3-2 to Frank Tanana.

With trade rumors swirling, the fans serenaded Blyleven in the eighth and ninth innings “Goodbye Bert … we’re glad to see you go!” After retiring the Angels in order in the ninth, Blyleven raised his left arm, grabbed it with his right, and extended a finger to the choir, as he headed to the dugout for the final time as a Twin.3

This resulted in a fine and an apology, but the big news the next morning was the consummation of Blyleven’s trade to the Texas Rangers. 

Infielder Danny Thompson, who was also playing out his option, was traded with Blyleven to Texas for Bill Singer, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Jim Gideon, and $250,000.

Eight weeks later, the Rangers came to Minnesota, and sent Blyleven to the mound on July 26 to face Dave Goltz and the Twins.

The Twins promoted the return of Blyleven, their former ace, with newspaper and radio ads, but only 9,184 turned out to see him pitch for the Rangers against the Twins. His return was marked by jeers, the same as his final appearance for the Twins on May 31. Every time Blyleven walked to the mound, the fans let him have it. He responded by doffing his cap and pitching one of the best games of his career.4

After the Rangers were retired in the first inning, Blyleven took the mound for the first time as a visitor in Minnesota. He handled a comebacker for the first out, then struck out Smalley, who had not only been a part of the trade for Blyleven, but was the nephew of Twins manager Gene Mauch. Rod Carew then bounced out to second base.

Texas took the lead on a two-out error by Twins second baseman Bob Randall in the second inning, and Blyleven quickly got three more groundouts in the home half. In the Twins third inning, Blyleven induced three groundballs to shortstop Toby Harrah, who then led off the Rangers fourth inning with a home run, making the Texas lead 2-0.

Steve Braun became the first Twins baserunner when he singled leading off the bottom of the fourth inning. Blyleven again struck out Smalley and again got Carew to bounce to second base, this time for a fielder’s choice. Carew, who had 36 stolen bases already this season, tried to steal second base but was thrown out by catcher Jim Sundberg. Carew argued the call and was ejected by second-base umpire Jim Evans. Craig Kusick replaced Carew as the Twins first baseman.

Minnesota failed to get the ball out of the infield again in the fifth inning as Blyleven sandwiched a groundout between a pair of strikeouts. In the sixth inning, the Twins batters were again dominated, producing only a groundball to third base with two more strikeouts.

Goltz continued to keep the game close, and after another scoreless frame, Texas sent Thompson to play second base, replacing Lenny Randle. Thompson, the other player traded by Minnesota with Blyleven, had won the Hutch award in 1974 for overcoming his diagnosed leukemia. The former Oklahoma State All-American would not survive the calendar year, however, as he lost his battle to the disease on December 10 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after undergoing spleen surgery the week before.

The Twins brought the top of the order up after the seventh-inning stretch. Braun, who had their only hit, lifted a fly ball to center field, the longest drive yet against Blyleven, for the first out. Another groundball produced the second out, bringing Kusick (Carew’s replacement) to the plate for the first time. Kusick singled to center, but Butch Wynegar was called out on strikes to end the inning.

In the eighth inning Blyleven got yet another groundout before walking Mike Cubbage, who had been one of the players involved in the trade, but Larry Hisle bounced into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Goltz was removed in the top of the ninth, after allowing an RBI single to Sundberg. Tom Burgmeier replaced him on the mound and retired Juan Beniquez and Gene Clines to end the inning.

Dan Ford struck out to start the bottom of the ninth. Tony Oliva batted for Bob Randall and bounced out to first base. That brought Steve Braun to the plate for the fourth time. With a single and a fly out, Braun had hit the ball better than any other Twin, but Blyleven struck him out to end the game.

It was a two-hit shutout for Blyleven, his third shutout of the season, and the 102nd victory of his career. He struck out nine batters, and the team had 17 assists. Besides the two singles, only one ball left the infield for Minnesota (Braun’s fly to center field in the seventh inning).

The game took 2 hours and 17 minutes with Greg Kosc calling the balls and strikes behind the plate. The rest of the crew was second-base umpire Evans, Nestor Chylak (first base), and Joe Brinkman (third base).

Sources 

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author consulted the following:

Baseball-reference.com

Retrosheet.org

Fowler, Bob. “Twins’ Price Too High for Blyleven and Carew,” The Sporting News, November 8, 1975: 51.

Newberg, Jamey. “Swapping Stories: The Bert Blyleven Trade of 1976,” MLB.com/blogs, May 24, 2007: newberg.mlblogs.com/swapping-stories-the-bert-blyleven-trade-of-1976-66faee78bd8a

Wolf, Gregory H. “Bert Blyleven,” sabr.org/bioproj/person/bert-blyleven/

Notes

1 baseball-almanac.com/draft/baseball-draft.php?yr=1969.

2 Bob Fowler, “Blyleven Points West,” The Sporting News, June 5, 1976: 52.

3 Bob Fowler, “Fans Gave Blyleven Musical Farewell,” The Sporting News, June 19, 1976: 28.

4 Bob Fowler, “Twin Hurlers Running Toward Walk Record,” The Sporting News, November 8, 1975: 51.