MINNEAPOLIS -- The long and mysterious wait for the Hall of Fame continues for former pitcher Bert Blyleven.

In results released by the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Blyleven finished seventh with 211 votes, or 40.9 percent of the 516 ballots cast. Eligible players needed 387 votes or 75 percent for induction to Cooperstown.

  2005 Hall of Fame
  voting results
The complete vote (516 ballots, 387 to gain election, 26 to remain on ballot):
 Player  Votes   %
 Wade Boggs  474  91.9%
 Ryne Sandberg  393  76.2%
 Bruce Sutter  344  66.7%
 Jim Rice  307  59.5%
 "Goose" Gossage  285  55.2%
 Andre Dawson  270  52.3%
 Bert Blyleven  211  40.9%
 Lee Smith  200  38.8%
 Jack Morris  172  33.3%
 Tommy John  123  23.8%
 Steve Garvey  106  20.5%
 Alan Trammell   87  16.9%
 Dave Parker   65  12.6%
 Don Mattingly   59  11.4%
 Dave Concepcion   55  10.7%
 Dale Murphy   54  10.5%
 Willie McGee   26   5.0%
 Jim Abbott   13   2.5%
 Darryl Strawberry    6   1.2%
 Jack McDowell    4   0.8%
 Chili Davis    3   0.6%
 Tom Candiotti    2   0.4%
 Jeff Montgomery    2   0.4%
 Tony Phillips    1   0.2%
 Terry Steinbach    1   0.2%
 Mark Langston    0   0.0%
 Otis Nixon    0   0.0%
  Sights and sounds:

• Boggs photo gallery
• Boggs highlights: 56K | 350K
• Boggs conference call
• Sandberg photo gallery
• Sandberg highlights: 56K | 350K
• Sandberg conference call
• Official announcement: 56K | 350K
• HOF president Dale Petroskey
  announces Class of 2005

Other former Twins were less fortunate. Pitcher Jack Morris finished ninth with 172 votes or 33.3 percent. Outfielder Chili Davis picked up just three votes and catcher Terry Steinbach just one vote. Davis and Steinbach were on less than five percent of ballots cast and therefore are not eligible for future Hall of Fame elections.

Only Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg received enough votes for enshrinement in 2005 from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Boggs tallied 91.9 percent of the vote, while Sandberg totaled 76.2 percent. They will be inducted July 31.

While the voters didn't agree, Blyleven's career statistics indicate he belongs on the same stage with Boggs, Sandberg and other Hall of Famers. In a career that spanned from 1970-92 with the Twins, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels, he won 287 games and posted 3,701 strikeouts -- fifth on the all-time list.

There are also the 60 shutouts that have him listed as ninth all-time and the 4,970 innings pitched, good for 13th all-time. Everybody ahead of Blyleven on both lists is a member of the Hall of Fame. He also won World Series rings with Pittsburgh in 1979 and Minnesota in 1987.

"I think he should be in too," Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew said Tuesday after learning the results. "I don't know why they keep bypassing him."

"For some reason, the writers either want more or I'll never get in," Blyleven said in November about why the Hall has eluded him.

Had Blyleven won 300 games, he'd likely be an automatic Hall of Famer. Every player to have reached that milestone is already in. Blyleven's 287 wins is 25th all-time. Tommy John (288 wins) is the only other eligible modern-era pitcher with more victories that isn't in the Hall.

"There are an awful lot of guys with 300 wins that didn't have the stats Bert did," said Killebrew, who was a Twins teammate of Blyleven's from 1970-74. "I think it's terrible they've overlooked him like that. I say it every year. I guess I'll have to say it again."

This was Blyleven's eighth year on the Hall of Fame ballot. If he continues to garner at least five percent of the vote, he will be eligible for election another seven years.

Since becoming eligible for the Hall in 1998, the 51-year-old Blyleven's name has moved up the election results list -- but not exactly with a bullet. After not crossing the 30 percent mark over his first six years on the ballot, he finally received 35.9 percent of the vote in 2004.

Now he picked up another five percent and another year's worth of more debate about his chances of getting in next year.

"He was as good as there was for a long time," Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett said last month. "Bert is up there with the toughest four or five guys I faced in my career.

"The writers never had to face him. If they did, they'd vote for him."