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Stephen Robert Blass
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher
Born: April 18, 1942, Canaan, CT
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1964, 1966-1974
World Series Appearances: Pittsburgh Pirates 1971
In his 10 seasons pitching with the Pirates, Steve Blass helped the club reach the postseason in 1971 and 1972, and his complete game victory over the Orioles in Game 7 secured the 1971 World Series Championship. Blass won at least 10 games in six different seasons. He was 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA in 1968 and he struck out a career-high 147 batters in 1969. Blass threw a league-leading five shutouts in 1971, and he'd throw two complete game victories in that year's World Series. His finest season came in 1972 when he was named to the All-Star team and was 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA in a career-high 249 2/3 innings pitched. He turned in two more stellar performances in the 1972 NLCS, allowing just three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings, but the Reds prevailed in five games.
In 1973, Blass inexplicably lost complete command of his pitches. He made 23 appearances for the Pirates, walking 84 and hitting 12 batters in 88 2/3 innings. After a year in the minors, he retired as a player and he'd begin his lengthy career as a Pirates broadcaster in 1983. Blass worked in the Pirates broadcast booth until retiring in 2019, and he was inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame that same year.
In his 10 seasons pitching with the Pirates, Steve Blass helped the club reach the postseason in 1971 and 1972, and his complete game victory over the Orioles in Game 7 secured the 1971 World Series Championship. Blass won at least 10 games in six different seasons. He was 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA in 1968 and he struck out a career-high 147 batters in 1969. Blass threw a league-leading five shutouts in 1971, and he'd throw two complete game victories in that year's World Series. His finest season came in 1972 when he was named to the All-Star team and was 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA in a career-high 249 2/3 innings pitched. He turned in two more stellar performances in the 1972 NLCS, allowing just three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings, but the Reds prevailed in five games.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #144
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Pirates Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
1969 Season
Coming off his 18-win season in 1968, Blass won 16 games for the Pirates while attaining his career high in strikeouts with 147. Only Veale with 34 and Dock Ellis (#286) with 33, made more starts than Blass, who had 32. Blass tied Veale for the staff lead in complete games with nine.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #232
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1965-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-SB
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 69 in the Beckett online database as of 10/7/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Building the Set / Card #144
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 67th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing less than a dollar.
The Card / Pirates Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Blass is shown posing in front of the Pirates' dugout before a road game, and if I had more knowledge of ballparks from the 1960s, I'd probably be able to identify where this photo was taken. If the coach sitting in the dugout is wearing #4, it's first base coach Johnny Pesky making a cameo appearance. Pesky coached with the Pirates between 1965 and 1967. The back of the card highlights Blass' 12 complete games and seven shutouts from the 1968 season. He led the club in shutouts, but Bob Veale (#520) had one more complete game with 13.
Accuracy Index: The Blass card scores a 5 given the accurate Pirates uniform.
1969 Season
Coming off his 18-win season in 1968, Blass won 16 games for the Pirates while attaining his career high in strikeouts with 147. Only Veale with 34 and Dock Ellis (#286) with 33, made more starts than Blass, who had 32. Blass tied Veale for the staff lead in complete games with nine.
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #232
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1965-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-SB
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 69 in the Beckett online database as of 10/7/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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