Bert Blyleven

Major League Baseball is the American pastime, but foreign-born players have played a big role in the sport’s history.

Foreign-born players now make up 29.0 percent of 2011 MLB Opening Day rosters.

International stars used to be restricted in baseball, but now they are becoming more prominent, and they are becoming even better.  There are only 10 foreign-born stars in the Hall of Fame right now, and I’m sure you can come up with 10 more who will be in there soon off the top of your head.

before gaining entry to Baseball's Hall of Fame, a player must wait five years after his retirement to become eligible, then be name don 75 percent or more of the total ballots cast by members of the Base Ball Writers' Association of America. Former pitcher Bert Blyleven did not achieve entry until his fourteenth try, and he is not alone in the annals of Cooperstown when it comes to having a long time to wait.

Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were voted in as the only two players in the 2011 National Baseball Hall of Fame class. Alomar made it in just his second year on the ballot, garnering 90 percent of the vote.

Blyleven, on the other hand, had to wait until his 14th year of eligibility, picking up 79.7 percent of the vote.

I believe that both deserved the honor. If not for Alomar’s infamous spitting incident in 1996, he likely would have been a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

So, the baseball Hall of Fame voting for this year is in, and there will be three new inductees. 

Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven and Pat Gillick are all set to be enshrined later this year. 

I can’t quibble with any of these choices. Alomar really should have been in last year but I presume the infamous spitting incident led some voters to withhold support to keep the honor of first ballot induction from the best second baseman in recent history.  

If you need to think about whether or not a player is a hall of famer, then he's not.

It really is that simple.

The players elected to the Hall of Fame should be the guys who give you goosebumps. The hitters who, when they stepped into the batter's box, you stopped to watch. The pitchers who, when they took the mound, gave you a chance to see a no hitter or perfect game.

Lou Gherig. Hank Aaron. Willie Mays. Sandy Koufax. Satchel Paige. Those guys.

The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame is getting three new members.

It was announced Wednesday that Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar each received votes from the required 75 percent of the ballots from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to be elected into the Hall of Fame, joining long-time general manager Pat Gillick, who was elected by the Veterans Committee last month.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the induction of Bert Blyleven (among others) after a 14-year wait.  Blyleven's election comes on the heels of the elections of Jim Rice (class of '09) and Andre "Hawk" Dawson ('10) after comparably long waits.  With these three men all in, we can now turn our sights to other players who have spent many years (five or more for the sake of this article) on the ballot and are still waiting for the all-important call from Cooperstown.  I took each player who will be

The baseball writers made him wait far too long, but Bert Blyleven has finally gotten what he long deserved: He and Roberto Alomar became the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

The baseball Hall of Fame added two new members to its fraternity today with Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven making it in after narrowly missing last year.

It's been a long road for Blyleven to the Hall of Fame, as this was his last year of eligibility. 

Bert has often spoken out about how he feels he belongs in Cooperstown, but his repeated campaigning didn't pay off until this year. Now, Blyleven can be at ease knowing he will be among baseball's greats, but does he belong?

On Wednesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America will announce the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2011. There's no telling how the results will shake out, but after seeing how the voters have gone the last few years, one thing's for sure: they'll get it wrong.