Courtesy KAAL TV

(January 28, 2009) Former Twins great Bert Blyleven ranks fifth on Major League Baseball's career strikeouts list, and was one of the toughest pitchers to face during his time. Since 1996, he's been the color commentator for Minnesota Twins TV broadcasts.

How exactly did he find his way to the broadcast booth? ABC 6 Sports reporter T.J. Werre caught up with Blyleven at the Twins Caravan last week and asked him that very question.

Bert Blyleven, the color commentator for the Minnesota Twins, didn't plan on ending up in a broadcast booth.

"The broadcasting, just kinda came at a whim," Blyleven says.

But after an illustrious major league career, the thought of staying involved with the game he loved sounded like some fun. And the rest, according to him, is history.

"Kinda one thing led to another and now I love what I do," Blyleven says.

His long major league road took him to Austin Wednesday night with the Twins Caravan where he got a chance to meet the people who listen to his voice every season -- the fans.

"He's a very good pitcher, he's a very good announcer and he should be in the Hall of Fame," Tom Schroeder says.

"We look forward to seeing him every Twins game and he's really funny," Brianna Kominek says.

"He's a classic Twin," Jenna Anderson says.

The former Twin and 22-year vet -- who won a World Series with Minnesota in 1987 -- sees some promise in this year's Twins squad as well.

"They have to take it one game at a time and hopefully your pitching is consistent. The Twins have always have always relied on good pitching, good defense, and that wins a lot of ball games,” Blyleven says.

The fans would love to see a lot of wins in 2009 and have Bert tell them all about it this summer. With the Twins, T.J. Were, ABC 6 Sports.