The 2009 class of Rickey Henderson, in his first year on the ballot, and Jim Rice, in his final year on the ballot, will travel to Cooperstown in July for their induction ceremony.

Blyleven did see his vote total increase by almost a full percentage point, from 61.9 percent in 2008 to 62.7, but the slight jump didn't get former Twins right-hander to the 75 percent threshold. Another former Twin, Jack Morris, also saw a jump in his votes, from 42.9 percent in 2008 to 44 this year.

Blyleven's increase is heartening, as is Rice's election. The former slugger became only the third player in history to be voted in on his last year on the ballot, giving hope to Blyleven, whose time on the ballot expires after the 2012 vote.

Reached at his home last week, Blyleven said he didn't believe he'd make it to Cooperstown this year but that he's hopeful for the years to come.

"I think over the years I've gone through the venting stage and the frustration stage. It is what it is now. I am moving in a positive direction," Blyleven said Friday. "I've read where guys have not voted for me in the past and now all of the sudden they have. What changed? I did not win another game over the last 12 years, but maybe they're finally looking at my numbers."

In 22 major league seasons, Blyleven won 287 games and had a 3.31 earned-run average. His 3,701 strikeouts are fifth on the all-time list. He pitched nearly 5,000 innings, threw 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and one no hitter. He won 10 or more games 17 times, 15 or more 10 times and 20 once, with Minnesota in 1973.

He was a two-time all star and won two World Series, the first with Pittsburgh in 1979 and the second with Minnesota in 1987. In six career postseason starts, Blyleven was 5-1 with 2.47 ERA.

The curveball specialist's Hall of Fame credentials have been debated for years, with his critics pointing to a lackluster win-loss record (287-250), only two all star selections and no Cy Young Awards with very few votes, maintaining Blyleven wasn't dominant enough for the Hall of Fame.

A third-round pick by the Twins in the 1969 draft, Blyleven groomed a successful career despite playing on teams that offered him little run support. His knee-buckling curveball made even the best hitters cringe, and the pitch's drop-off-the-table movement became Baseball's barometer for measuring a nasty curve.

Still, Blyleven's ascent to Baseball's Hall of Fame continues to be a slow one. The boisterous and talkative right-hander for years has said he believes his numbers are Hall of Fame worthy, and many of the pitchers surrounding him in the record books already have a bust in Cooperstown.

Blyleven is ninth on the all-time shutout list -- eight pitchers ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame, along with more than a dozen that fall below him on that list. He is fifth on the all-time strikeouts list and remains the only pitcher of the first 17 on that list not in the Hall.

In Bill James' 2008 book "Gold Mine," the legendary sabermatrician compared Blyleven's ERA and innings pitched to other pitchers with similar totals in those categories but different records. James found that most pitchers with comparable innings pitched and ERA exceeded the highly regarded 300-win status. Simply put, Blyleven's run support was considerably less than the rest of the pitchers in that group.

In addition to his vote increasing for the past two years with many writers, analysts and statisticians vying for his place in the Hall of Fame, Blyleven has another reason to be hopeful. In 2012, his last year on the ballot, there is no clear-cut first-year choice, which should give him even more of a final year boost than Rice had this time around.