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April 6th, 2020

This time, it's 's turn to be circled.

The Hall of Famer and longtime Twins television analyst has long been known around Twins Territory for drawing attention to various fans during games by circling them with his telestrator, but today, the spotlight will instead turn to Blyleven alone as MLB Network will celebrate the Dutchman's 69th birthday by airing a full day's worth of Blyleven's World Series appearances with the Pirates and Twins.

Considering Blyleven's longstanding exuberance regarding his birthday, that's probably a fitting way for the baseball community to celebrate.

"It used to be that [his birthday] was right around Opening Day ... and I got the sense that, at least for Bert, the fact that it was his birthday was an even bigger deal than the fact that the baseball season was starting," said Twins play-by-play broadcaster Dick Bremer. "He would always play it up big with the hat and the cake. Most people are presented with a birthday cake, but I think there were a couple of years where he brought it himself to the ballpark."

The marathon will begin at noon ET with Blyleven's start for Pittsburgh in Game 2 of the 1979 World Series, when he held the Orioles to two runs and five hits across six innings. That will be followed at 2 p.m. ET by the right-hander's relief appearance in Game 5, when he pitched four shutout innings to finish the game and earn the win as the Pirates staved off elimination and began a three-game winning streak that netted them their most recent World Series championship.

After that, the broadcast will turn to Blyleven's Twins tenure with two showings of his seven-inning start in Game 2 of the 1987 World Series, in which he struck out eight Cardinals hitters and allowed two runs to push the Twins to an 8-4 victory. Those games will be aired at 4 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m. ET.

"I'll know better than to call him when the games are on, because I'd imagine he'd ignore the phone calls just to watch himself pitch," Bremer jokingly added.

Blyleven also appeared in Game 5 of that 1987 World Series but took the loss and nearly entered Game 7 in relief when starter Frank Viola, the eventual World Series Most Valuable Player, struggled in the second inning. Game 5 marked the final postseason appearance of Blyleven's career, though he pitched several more years before he retired after the '92 campaign.

Blyleven was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011, and he ranks fifth on Major League Baseball's all-time strikeouts list with 3,701, trailing only Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton. Blyleven was 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA in 692 games over his 22-year MLB career. His number 28 was retired by the Twins in '11.