Bert Blyleven

Blyleven was born in the Netherlands but was raised in Garden Grove, California where he attended Santiago High School. His father moved the family to Melville, Saskatchewan when Blyleven was two years old, and he then moved his family to Southern California when Blyleven was five years old. He became interested in baseball as a young boy watching Sandy Koufax pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and listening to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett announce the Dodgers\' radio broadcasts. Blyleven was quoted as saying, "My dad built me a mound in the backyard with a canvas backdrop over our horseshoe pits, and I would go back there and just throw and throw and throw until I developed it, and it became my curveball. And I could throw it over at any time, any count." \n', '

Blyleven starred on the Santiago High School baseball team, also running cross country to build up his stamina and leg strengt…