Knowing what we knew, this is a shock.
In his 13th year on The Ballot, former Minnesota Twins great Bert Blyleven has been snubbed again. He received 74.2 of the votes; he missed by a total of five votes. With the way voting goes, Blyleven will likely make the cut in 2011.
To quote Peter Gammons live on MLB.com: "This is a disappointment." The lack of support for Barry Larkin is a bit surprising, but as late as an hour ago certain sites had Robert Alomar checked on 88% of the ballots that were made public. But the biggest shock comes from the results of Blyleven, not just because he's earned this recognition but because he was within 0.8% of making the grade. I'm frustrated for him.
Over at BWAA.com, you can read the entire story, but Blyleven's narrow miss wasn't unnoticed:
Blyleven’s five-vote margin was the fifth fewest in history, trailing only Nellie Fox (1985) and Pie Traynor (1947), who each missed by two votes, and Billy Williams (1986) and Jim Bunning (1988), who each missed by four. All were eventually elected, Traynor in 1948 and Williams in 1987 by the BBWAA and Bunning in 1996 and Fox in 1997 by the Veterans Committee.
Congratulations to Andre Dawson, who was the only player who makes the cut. Five ballots were left blank, but this should take nothing away from Dawson who did have a great career. He was the 1977 Rookie of the Year, and won MVP honors in '87 after hitting .287/.328/.568 (49 homers) for the Cubs. An eight time All-Star ('81-'83, '87-'91) and a six time Gold Glove winner ('80-'85, '87-'88), Dawson also finished with MVP votes nine times ('79-'83, '87-'88, '90-'91). He was Awesome Dawson, and he'll be inducted into Cooperstown on July 25, 2010.
The following players did not receive enough votes to stay on the ballot for next year: Andres Galarraga, Robin Ventura, Ellis Burks, Eric Karros, Kevin Appier, Pat Hentgen, David Segui, Mike Jackson, Ray Lankford, Shane Reynolds and Todd Zeile.