Two former Cleveland Indians go to the Hall of Fame

Roberto Alomar was going to get in eventually. He was just too good not to.
I don't have much to say about him other than he was probably the best second baseman of his era, and an absolute joy to watch on defense, especially when paired with Omar Vizquel from 1999-2001.
I doubt he'll go into the Hall as an Indian, though. He'll probably go as a Blue Jay, where he won two world champeenships. He did get to play with his brother Sandy during his time in Cleveland, and was generally well received by the fans.
I highly doubt Bert Blyleven will go in as an Indian, either. Regardless, he should have been in a long time ago. He didn't quite get to 300 wins, finishing with 287, and I'd guess that was probably what held him back.
But, Blyleven belongs in the Hall if only because of his 3,701 strikeouts. When he retired, that was good for third on the all time list. Now, it's fifth, but anybody who ranks in the top five of any major category like that should be in the Hall.
And, anyway, if not for a few years when he battled injuries, and the awful records of the some of the teams he played on, he would have won 300 games. He was pretty durable, but he did miss enough time that he could have earned another 13 wins easily. He only made 12 starts in 1976, four in 1982, and missed the entire 1991 season. He also missed some time in 1976 and 1983. In the strike year of 1981, he made 20.
In 1984, when I was a wee lad of 14, he went 19-7 with the Indians, who were a 79-87 team. I am not doing the math, but when Blyleven didn't pitch, the team was just awful. But, the Dutchman was downright great every time he pitched. I remember really, really hoping, he'd win 20, but he just missed. I didn't get to see a 20-game winer in Cleveland until Cliff Lee in 2008.
Blyleven aged well, too, winning a World Series with the Twins in 1987, and then at age 38, going 17-5 with the 1989 California Angels.
Here are the players he was most similar to, according to Similarity Scores at Baseball-Referece.com:
Don Sutton (914) *
Gaylord Perry (909) *
Fergie Jenkins (890) *
Tommy John (889)
Robin Roberts (876) *
Tom Seaver (864) *
Jim Kaat (854)
Early Wynn (844) *
Phil Niekro (844) *
Steve Carlton (840) *
Everybody on this list except John and Kaat are in the Hall of Fame.
Which leads nicely to my little I told you so: Here's the case I made for Blyleven back in 2007.
From the list I made then, I think John may eventually get in and so might Jack Morris.
Kaat may deserve it, but I don't think there's been much movement toward getting him elected. He has only four fewer wins than Blyleven and five fewer than John.
It looks, sadly, like Mel Harder will never get in. With the death of Bob Feller, Harder lost one of his most vocal supporters. I think the argument could be made that Harder deserves to be in the HOF if only as a pitching coach. And, he was a pretty good pitcher, too.

Under the heading of more statistics than we really need, here's what the Indians sent out in an e-mail on the subject of today's announcement:
Right-hander Bert Blyleven and Second baseman Roberto Alomar, both of whom spent portions of their careers with the Indians, were elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, garnering 79.7% and 90% of the vote, respectively, with 75% required for election.
Bert Blyleven, who pitched for the Indians from 1981-85, notched 287 career wins, 27th on the all-time list, and is fifth in career strikeouts with 3,701. Blyleven went 19-7 with a 2.87 ERA with the Tribe in 1984, finishing third in the Cy Young voting.
A switch-hitter, Alomar amassed 2,724 hits, 210 homers, 1,134 RBIs and 474 steals playing for seven teams. From 1999-2001 with the Indians, the 10-time Gold Glove winner batted .323 with a .405 on-base percentage, 63 home runs, 309 RBIs, 362 runs scored and 106 stolen bases.