Johnson, Blyleven and Jenkins
Randy Will Be, Ferguson Is, and Blyleven Might Be Hall of Famers
Bert Blyleven and Ferguson Jenkins have similar lifetime statistics, but Jenkins had many more dominating seasons . Johnson was better than either of them.
There is absolutely no doubt that Randy Johnson will be in the Hall of Fame. Johnson has won 284 games while losing 150, has a 3.22 ERA, has 4616 strikeouts, and has had over 300 strikeouts in five different seasons. Bert Blyleven is still not a Hall of Famer. Bert has won 287 games while losing 250, has a 3.31 ERA, has 3701 strikeouts, and has never had a 300 strike out season. There is no doubt that Johnson has been a more dominating pitcher than Blyleven as well as simply a better pitcher.
Randy Johnson Dominates
Ferguson Jenkins is in the Hall of Fame. Jenkins, like Johnson, has won 284 games, but he has lost 226 games, has a 3.34 ERA, has 3192 strikeouts, and has never struck out 300 hitters in a season. There is no doubt that Randy Johnson has been a more dominating pitcher than Ferguson Jenkins as well as simply a better pitcher.
Comparing Blyleven and Jenkins
But when one compares Bert Blyleven to Ferguson Jenkins, there are questions. Each has won and lost about the same number of games in their careers. Their ERAs are virtually the same. Blyleven’s is 0.59 lower than the league average while Jenkins’ is 0.50 less. Blyleven averaged 14 wins and 12 losses a season. Jenkins averaged 15 wins and 12 losses a season. Blyleven averaged 245 innings a season while Jenkins averaged 243 innings a season. This brings us to the major difference between Blyleven and Jenkins.
Jenkins' Outstanding Seasons
Bert Blyleven has won 20 games in only one season. Ferguson Jenkins won 20 games in 7 seasons, 6 of them consecutively. Blyleven pitched 21 seasons (only 4 games in 1982) and Jenkins pitched for 18 seasons. In 5 seasons, Jenkins worked over 300 innings, something that Blyleven never accomplished. In 1971, Jenkins won the National League Cy Young Award. Blyleven never finished better than third in the Cy Young voting, but Blyleven appeared in the World Series twice, the first time in 1979 with the victorious Pirates, when he was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA, and the second time with the 1987 champion Twins, when he was 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA. Jenkins never pitched in a playoff or World Series game.
Jenkins Had a Better Career Than Blyleven
Ferguson Jenkins had a better career than Bert Blyleven, which is why he is in the Hall of Fame, but Blyleven’s accomplishments are close enough to Jenkins’ that one must wonder why he is not in the Hall of Fame, which brings us back to Randy Johnson.
Johnson is Among the Best of All Time
Johnson probably will not win 300 games, and while winning is the bottom line, baseball is a team game and the best pitcher doesn’t always get the most wins. Johnson is in the same class as great left handers Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, and Steve Carlton and Eddie Plank.
Johnson was a 20 game winner three times, has averaged 10.78 strikeouts a game, shares the record for most strikeouts in a game, 20, with Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood which is the most in baseball history, and has won the Cy Young Award 5 times. In 2002, Johnson won pitching’s triple crown, leading the National League with 24 wins, 334 strikeouts, and a 2.32 ERA. In 2004, he pitched a perfect game against the Braves.
Why Blyleven is Not Yet in the Hall of Fame
Because Randy Johnson dominated and Ferguson Jenkins had dominating seasons, the latter is a Hall of Famer and the former will be one. Bert Blyleven was a good a pitcher as Jenkins, but because he had only one 20 win season, led the league in strikeouts only once, never won an ERA title, and never won a Cy Young Award, Blyleven is not in the Hall of Fame. It is an omission that might be rectified soon.
