Be Home Blyleven (No Longer a Question)

It has been well covered in the Minneapolis/St. Paul media, and perhaps elsewhere (Holland, perhaps?) that Bert Blyleven belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His Cooperstown-worthy credentials:

685 career starts (and 4970 innings pitched), 287 wins (26th all-time), 242 complete games, 60 shutouts, 3701 strikeouts (5th all time)

So our favorite Flying Dutchman belongs in the Hall of Fame. Great, because you know somewhere he doesn't belong anymore? The broadcast booth, next to Dick Bremer. And no, it's not about being "circled", and I'm not talking about this embarassing little mishap, either:


I'm not going to sit here and pretend I've watched every Twins game since Bert became the color commentator in 1996. I haven't even watched the majority, but I have seen hundreds, enough to know this:

If I have to listen to him drone on and on for and inning and a half about pitch counts, and the lack of starting pitchers who can go more than 6 innings, and how much better things were in the good old days, I am going to find something sharp and jab it into my ears repeatedly. In case you don't know of what I speak, the scenario usually plays out something like this.

The Twins' or their opponents' starting pitcher will be either a)struggling or b)pitching well. (That's right, this commentary can find its way into the broadcast no matter how the pitchers are performing.) As the pitcher in question gets near 70 or 80 or 100 pitches thrown in his great/awful start, Bert will start to lament the increased role pitch counts play in Major League Baseball. He will compare pitchers now to pitchers of the past, when men were men and ladies were too. He will point out that it puts added pressure on bullpens (and occasionally, will wax poetic about how bullpens were wholly unnecessary places not far removed from sanitaria back in baseball's golden era).

I understand that as a man with 242 complete games in his career, this is a troublesome and lamentable development in baseball. Hell, he probably has a legitimate concern. I also understand that with 162 games a year they have to cover, at 3+ hours per game, eventually you run out of things to talk about. You know what good color commentators do, though? They go and talk to the players, coaches, fans, hangers-on, et cetera and find new stories to discuss. Or they use their expertise about the game they are covering to provide some insight as to what might be making a particular player effective or ineffective. They do not recycle the same bits for fourteen (!) seasons.

What say you, loyal readers, am I way off base on this one?