I just watched Bert Blyleven eat 2 nightcrawlers on the Twins pregame show

[KitchenWitch]

:rofl:

He did it as a fundraiser for Parkinson's research.

:D

[ThomCat]

1. Eww...

Some people are willing to eat almost anything. Especially if they have been in the military and been through survival training. I don't know if that's the case for this guy, but it seems to usually be the case for people who willingly eat crawly things.

:puke:

I hope he is raising a lot of money. :)

[KitchenWitch]

2. Not sure how much he raised.

I do not think he served in the military, but he was a helluva pitcher for the Twins and several other teams.

[TZ]

3. From what I heard about him

I think this might not be the first time he's eaten worms....;)

[KitchenWitch]

6. Last year he ate ranch flavored crickets on the air

Andrew Zimmern did a Bizarre Foods at the Metrodome deal, and sent up crickets to the booth.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. That's truly disgusting!

You're actually watching a Twins game on television?

[KitchenWitch]

7. Yes I am.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. Way to be Bert!!

:rofl:

Anything for a good cause. :)

[KitchenWitch]

8. Bert is my hero!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

11. I've been a fan of his for a long time.

A superb pitcher, a true flake, and one of the best Bermanisms ever.

"Be Home" Blyleven :D

Hiya KW :hug: :loveya:

[KitchenWitch]

12. He is really fun as a color commentator for the Twins too.

He is difficult to "restrain" which leads to some comical moments.

[Bossy Monkey]

9. Now he'll never get in the Hall! Using performance-enhancing earthworms on live TV! I ask you!

:P

[KitchenWitch]

10. Using LIVE performance enhancing earthworms on live TV!

:rofl:

[rurallib]

18. Why isn't this guy in the hall?

And speaking of comical Twins announcers, did you ever hear Halsey Hall back in the day?

[KitchenWitch]

23. Halsey Hall... now THERE is a blast from the past.

:D

[SeattleGirl]

13. They just showed a replay of it, and I saw it.

OMG!

Gotta hand it to the guy; that's more than I think I could have done!

[KitchenWitch]

14. There is NO. WAY. I could have done that.

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. Hearing that just makes me squirm...

Never mind seeing it!

UGH.

I wonder if he anesthetized his throat first?

:P

[KitchenWitch]

16. No, he didn't

He did have a large bottle of water though.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Oh, good!

That would help...

Ugh.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

19. Remember, this is a man who once crawled all the way from the dugout

at the old Met Stadium through dirt to the bullpen just to light another pitcher's shoes on fire. Bert is one of the game's all time practical jokers.

[KitchenWitch]

20. Yes, and I love him for that!

:D

[5thGenDemocrat]

21. Glad I missed it

That said, I will also say (as a 52-year-old Detroit Tiger fan) that Bert Blyleven had the best goddamned curve ball I ever saw in my life, bar none, and it's a crying shame that he isn't in the Hall of Fame.
John
Also thinks it's a crime Mickey Lolich isn't in Cooperstown right alongside him.

[KitchenWitch]

22. No one has ever been able to top Bert's curveball.

It was a thing of beauty.

Agreed about Mickey Lolich as well.

[5thGenDemocrat]

24. Willie Horton, who could hit a bad hanging curve 450 feet, couldn't ever touch Blyleven

And Mickey Lolich pitched 376 innings in 1971. Divide that by nine innings in a complete game and tell me what kind of workhorse he was. Plus, he won three games in the '68 World Series. Plus he STILL has the most strikeouts by any American League lefthander, ever.
John
Grew up lefthanded in Michigan in the late '60s. While the other (righthanded) kids could pretend to be Kaline or McAuliffe or Horton or Freehan or McLain, I had to be Norm Cash or Lolich. And I was surely no Norm Cash.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

25. You see all these pitchers today - lean, muscular guys

and they can't pitch 225 innings. Lolich looked like he never ate anything but cheeseburgers and donuts and pitched 300+ year in and year out.

I remember Willie Horton well. Jeebus, could that man hit a baseball hard. Freehan and Cash, too. Man, that late 1960s Tigers lineup was a fearsome thing.

Bert had a curve in the Sandy Koufax class. Dropped about five feet vertically and moved about a foot out of the strike zone to righties. Guys would practically screw themselves into the ground trying to hit that thing.