Baseball's Dutch Treat

And quite well, thank you. Last year he had 19 wins, seven losses and a dozen ties. "It was an off year for ties," says Blyleven. He's referring to neckties. An inveterate practical joker, Blyleven likes to snip cravats. One of his favorite marks is Indians public relations director Bob DiBiasio. "Bert got six of mine last year," says DiBiasio. "I have to say this for him, though. He always goes out and buys me a new one. Of course, it's never as nice as the one he cut."

Blyleven, 33, is such a cutup, in fact, that he recently cut off his five-year-old beard. This past baseball season he merely cut up American League batters, finishing as the third-leading vote getter in the Cy Young Award balloting, behind relievers Willie Hernandez and Dan Quisenberry. He tied for second in the league in wins and was second in winning percentage (.731), third in ERA (2.87) and fourth in strikeouts (170). He also tied for third in shutouts, with four, and for fourth in complete games, with 12.

What makes his statistics even more impressive is that he missed five starts after he broke a bone in his right foot; while shagging flies in the Milwaukee outfield in May, he stepped on a ball hiding in the grass. In his seven losses, the Indians scored only six runs.

After getting his 18th win, Blyleven talked Cleveland Manager Pat Corrales into letting him pitch again with only three days' rest, and he won No. 19 7-4 over the Twins on the last day of the season. He left in the eighth to a standing ovation from the Municipal Stadium faithful, 8,239 strong.

For some reason it has taken Blyleven 3,422 ⅔ innings, 468 games, 195 wins, 15 years and four teams to be appreciated.

A banquet in a Riviera dining room follows the golf tournament, and Blyleven, nattily dressed in a camel's hair sports coat, navy blue trousers, blue shirt and uncut tie, is the master of ceremonies. He is very much at ease on the podium as he describes various raffle prizes, calls off winning numbers and awards golf trophies.

"We have a beautiful cutlery set. Who has blue ticket 92594? Wait a minute. I do. Hmmm, I wanted the color TV.

"O.K., we've got a golf bag and a dozen balls. Brown ticket 58456? Who? Francisco the busboy? Francisco, come up here. Here you go. Hey, wait a minute, Francisco, where are you going? You've got work to do.

"This is for a free membership to Racquetball World. Blue 90672, raise your hand. Richie Scheinblum? You've got to be kidding. Richie, you don't even exercise. You don't need this."

During a lull at the banquet, Scheinblum talks about Blyleven. "Bert's always doing things for people," he says. "But I'll be grateful to him for one thing in particular. A couple of years ago when he was on the disabled list and back home, he came to watch my son Monte pitch. Monte tried to throw a curve, and something in his elbow snapped. Bert knew what had happened right away and got Monte's elbow in a bucket of ice. Saved him a lot of pain." As Blyleven wanders into earshot, Scheinblum says, "Of course, I feel very strongly that a person born in a foreign country should not be allowed to play in the major leagues."