Pitchers, Catchers Report in 5 weeks

I've never had lunch with Bruce Sutter, but I know one thing, Bert Blyleven, by surpassing 50% yesterday in the Hall of Fame vote, will make the Hall before the decade is gone.

Maybe Goose will be on the same winning ballot --

If Blyleven had pitched for the Mets that year instead of Minnesota, he might've won 25 games and inched ever closer to the holy grail, 300 for his career.

What was it that made him so tough to hit? What made him so special? It was that curveball, obviously. I remember its huge, looping trajectory, wondering how the hell he gripped that pitch and generated so much spin.

"Oh my God, that fucking curveball was unreal," (Goose) Gossage said. "People used to talked about (Dwight) Gooden's hook, I swear Blyleven's was better. I've never seen anything like it -- then or now. You know the expression, 'dropping off the table?'

That's what his curveball was like. It just disappeared. And the thing is, he threw it hard, then he'd blow that fastball right by you up in the strike zone. Guys had no chance."

So when I asked Gossage if he thought Blyleven deserved to be in the Hall, I could almost see his eyebrows flexing, as if to ask: are you kidding me?

"Hell, yes," Goose said. "Dominant pitcher, great pitcher.