Bert Blyleven, an Advisory Board member for TPGF, was elected into
Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2011.  He has also been the color commentator for
Minnesota Twins television broadcasts since 1996, and is enormously popular
with Twins fans all around the world.

In addition, Bert has acted as the pitching coach for the Kingdom of the
Netherlands in the past two World Baseball Classic tournaments, where he and
his underdog team have exceeded any reasonable expectations by advancing to
the final round in 2013, after making it the second round in 2009, when they
beat the strong Dominican Republic squad twice in order to advance.

Bert was born in Zeist, Netherlands and moved to the United States as a
young child.

TPGF: Bert, the growth of the World Baseball Classic has been impressive,
and we think it illustrates some rather remarkable growth for the sport of
baseball in new regions of the world. How has your experience been, with the
Dutch team?

Bert: It’s just been a fantastic experience for me, and I know it’s been a
major positive step for baseball in a lot of different countries. Most of
our Dutch team is made up of players from The Netherlands and from Curacao,
which is part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, and it’s been amazing to
watch these guys come together and really compete at the highest levels in
the world, despite the fact most of these young men will never play in the
major leagues.

The only issue with the WBC is the timing of it, but there’s really no other
way to do it. You can’t stop the major league season to play it, and you
can’t schedule it for after the season, because all the players are pretty
worn out by then. Doing it during spring training is the best time for the
WBC, and we just make it work.

TPGF: It has to be a great experience for your young Dutch players, right?

Bert: Oh it’s the greatest experience they could get. Some of our guys are
in the minor leagues in various organizations, but none of them have ever
really experienced what it’s like to play against established major league
players in front of packed stadiums filled with excited fans. They don’t get
to feel that pressure and excitement in a minor league spring training game
on the back field at some complex. We’re over there in Chinese Taipei and
Japan, playing in big stadiums that are rocking with excitement, and it’s a
thrill for the Dutch players to not only experience that, but do so well.

TPGF: Speaking of Chinese Taipei and Japan, your team had to do some
backbreaking travel during the WBC.

Bert: Boy, we sure did and that was the hardest part for us. It probably
wore our guys out a bit by the final round. We’re in the opening rounds
against those Asian teams, so our guys had to travel from Holland and
Curacao before spring training, so we could practice together and come
together as a team a little bit, in Arizona. Then we got on a plane and went
to Taipei, then on to Japan, and then back to the U.S. to get ready for the
final round. We did 15,000 miles in the air as a team, and no other country
had to do anything close to that.

TPGF: Why hasn’t the U.S. team done as well as people expected?

Bert: I think it’s because they bring in All-Star players, who are all great
ballplayers and very motivated to be there, but they don’t have the time to
come together as a team. We didn’t have the pure talent like the USA did,
but we spent the time to learn each other’s tendencies and become a team. By
the time we played our first game, we had our pitching figured out and we
were comfortable with our batting order and defense.

TPGF: So, after all these years in the broadcast booth, getting back in the
dugout and back in uniform has to be great.

Bert:  Oh it’s been great.  I love working with young players, helping them
learn the game and learn how to respect the game and play it the right way.
To have a chance to work with these Dutch players, who are playing against
some of the best teams in the world, is really rewarding. And you know, the
best part of this is that I’m honoring my mom and dad by coaching the Dutch
team. They brought us to America to make a better life for themselves, so I
get to honor them and my country of birth by coaching the Netherlands team.

TPGF:  And now the 2013 MLB season is underway and the Twins are playing
pretty well to start the season, despite being picked by most experts to
finish at the bottom of the AL Central again.

Bert: The Twins pitching, especially the starting staff, has just not been
up to the normal Minnesota Twins standards the last couple of years, so that
was General Manager Terry Ryan’s aim this season, to shore that up. Vance
Worley, Kevin Correia, and Mike Pelfrey are three good starters who have
come in as fresh faces, and I know everyone in the front office is happy
about how they’re throwing the ball. The other day, we brought up Pedro
Hernandez, a young pitcher we got in the Francisco Liriano trade, and he
pitched a good strong outing for us. This club has plenty of offensive
tools, and a very good bullpen, so I think the 2013 Minnesota Twins have a
chance to make some of those experts look a little foolish. It’s a long
season and we’ll see how it ends up, but this is a much better team than
we’ve had the last two years.

TPGF: Speaking of pitching, you’re pretty outspoken about things like pitch
counts and complete games. The game has really changed, hasn’t it?

Bert: Oh my gosh, it’s changed so much I think we need to adjust some things
to make it work. With everyone on pitch counts, if you can get your starter
to the seventh inning it’s almost like a complete game, anymore. There are
teams carrying 13 pitchers, to make sure they have all the long guys, set-up
guys, and closers they need. When you do that, you only have three position
players on the bench. The manager only has three moves he can make, and one
of those might be his back-up catcher, so you have to be careful there that
you don’t make a move and run out of catchers.

TPGF: So what can be done, since it doesn’t look like pitch counts are going
away?

Bert: Two things come to mind for me. First, maybe the Players Association
and the MLB clubs can work out an increase in the size of the roster.  Just
adding a couple of players will give the managers a lot more options to make
changes or moves. Going into a game with just three players on the bench
makes it really hard to match-up as the game goes on.  Secondly, now that
we’re balanced at 15 teams per league, with the Houston Astros moving to the
American League, we have to have one inter-league series going at all times.
Maybe it’s time to either eliminate the DH or expand it to both leagues,
because it’s awfully hard for these NL teams and AL teams to have to swap
back and forth depending on who the home team is. Either way, it’s probably
time to make some changes, because the game has changed. Especially in terms
of pitching.

TPGF: Bert, thanks so much for the great conversation and best of luck the
rest of the way with the Twins.

Bert: My pleasure, and I’m happy to be involved with TPGF. What you and your
family are doing is a great thing, and good for the game.