Rik Aalbert Blyleven is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins. Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. He won 287 games, 27th-most all-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-most all-time. A renowned curveball pitcher, Blyleven was also a two-time All-Star and World Series champion. Although under-appreciated during his playing career, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011—his second-to-last year of eligibility.
Blyleven in 2011
Blyleven in 1987
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities moniker for the two adjacent cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Washington's Bucky Harris scores on his home run in the fourth inning of Game 7 of the 1924 World Series.
President Calvin Coolidge (left) and Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson (right) shake hands following the Senators' 1924 championship.
The Minneapolis Millers (1884–1960) and St. Paul Saints (1901–1960; team photo of 1920 pictured) of AAA played in Minnesota before the arrival of the Twins in 1961
Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, 1964
