Weird Bert Blyleven Story

[Brandon Warne]

Before tonight's Twins Town Hall, FSNorth showed the Blyleven-Smalley feature in which they were talking about, among other things, at one time being traded for one another.

 

Bert was chronicling the trade that brought him back to the Twins, and something stood out to me.

 

*Paraphrased*

 

"I just wanted to get out of Cleveland, so GM Peter Bavasi asked me where I wanted to go. I said Anaheim, because that's where I was from. He said that wasn't happening, since they weren't willing to trade Don Baylor. Ultimately, it ended up being Minnesota, and that was OK, too."

 

Cool story, I suppose, but.....uh....

 

Blyleven was traded back to the Twins on Aug. 1, 1985. 

Baylor left the Angels as a free agent following the 1982 season to sign with the Yankees.

Not only was Baylor not with the Angels, he was a few months away from being traded to the Red Sox. 

 

Just seems like a weird thing to mis-remember or fabricate, no? 

[twinsnorth49]

I think the Town Hall was held just after the close of happy hour.

 

That's my guess.

[twinssporto]

I wonder if Peter Bavasi was even the GM of Cleveland then...I'll check.

 

Twins north is correct. Town Hall was close to or just after happy hour ended.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I doubt it was intentionally fabricated, and it's not at all a weird thing to mis-remember.

 

Blyleven was traded a lot, and it is logical that when his teams were shopping him, he would ask about being traded to the Angels since he is indeed from California.

 

Don Baylor is a memorable player whose longest tenure with any team was with the Angels, and in fact he was with the Angels when Blyleven was traded both after 1977 and again after 1980.

 

It sounds like Blyleven is simply mis-attributing that specific circumstance to the 1985 trade discussions instead of his earlier ones, which doesn't seem unusual after 30+ years.  (Sounds like a lot of discrepancies I notice in conversation with older relatives during the holiday season too. )

[gunnarthor]

It's possible that Bert discussed getting traded out of Cleveland before 1985.  His 81 and 82 seasons were a bit crappy - injuries, I believe - so maybe management did think about moving him before it finally did.  

[Thrylos]

I thought that you where talking about this Bert story...

[Obsvr]

Bert is definitely not lacking in the Ego department...i'm sure he thinks bringing up Don Baylor as the reason why not sounds much better than the real reason, whatever that was.

[Craig Arko]

Are there any non-weird Blyleven stories?

[Doomtints]

 

It's possible that Bert discussed getting traded out of Cleveland before 1985.  His 81 and 82 seasons were a bit crappy - injuries, I believe - so maybe management did think about moving him before it finally did.  

 

Exactly.  The conversation could have happened years before he was traded.  And who is to say that the Yankees were not in the mix too, and he simply confused some of the details?

 

There is nothing weird about this at all.

[darin617]

Not sure if anyone else feels the same way that I do but I would love a new pair of Twins broadcasters for 2017. It seems ever since Bert finally got elected to the HOF he has almost turned diva. I know he has HOF obligations to do but he will only be doing like half of the broadcasts this upcoming year. Time for change though, it was a good run!

[Obsvr]

 

Not sure if anyone else feels the same way that I do but I would love a new pair of Twins broadcasters for 2017. It seems ever since Bert finally got elected to the HOF he has almost turned diva. I know he has HOF obligations to do but he will only be doing like half of the broadcasts this upcoming year. Time for change though, it was a good run!

I actually dont mind Bremer even if he is a bit folksy, but Bert and Smalley are brutal.  Move Gladden over from radio...although he'd have to wear a tie, so he'd probably pass.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Not sure if anyone else feels the same way that I do but I would love a new pair of Twins broadcasters for 2017. It seems ever since Bert finally got elected to the HOF he has almost turned diva. I know he has HOF obligations to do but he will only be doing like half of the broadcasts this upcoming year. Time for change though, it was a good run!

Amen and amen. The thought of suffering through another decade or two of Dick and Bert babbling on is almost unbearable. Who is the target audience for Dick listeners? 90 year old librarians from the iron range?! Dick and Bert need to go and be replaced by announcers who know today's game.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Are there any non-weird Blyleven stories?

good question!

I don't have a good suggestion