The Blasses and I walked slowly along together over the thick new grass, toting gloves and helmets and Karens fold-up lawn chair, and at the parking lot the party divided into two carsKaren and the boys homeward bound, and Steve Blass and I off to a nearby shopping center to order one large cheese-and-peppers-and-sausage victory pizza, to go. He won a World Series title in 1971, earned an All-Star selection the following season and retired from the diamond a few . Steve Blass, the Pittsburgh Pirates hero of the 1971 World Series, was on of the most effective pitchers during th e spna 1968-1972. Hes always been that way. It was the swing that put Richie back on his heels like that. Later on, Richie Zisk hit a homer off Gibson, on a three-and-two count, and Blass murmured, The high slider is one of the hittable pitches when it isnt just right. Blass made the trip mostly because he had promised Maury Wills, who is now a baserunning consultant to several teams, that he would not quit the game until he had seen Mr. Ellen. Virdon and Blass agreed that a spell in the bullpen seemed called for; at least he could work on his problems there every day. I dont think anybodys ever said that maybe I just lost my control. It is directly behind the overlapping hand and glove of the dancers, and it binds and recapitulates the lines of force and the movements and the theme of the work, creating a composition as serene and well ordered as a Giotto. A person lives on, he said more than once, smiling. Especially the young guyshe really understood them, and they put their confidence in him because of that. He made brief appearances in two games against Pirate farmhands, and threw well. This was a late-afternoon date in the Upper St. Clair (Pennsylvania) Recreation League schedule, played between the White Sox and the Orioles on a field behind the Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary SchoolLittle League baseball, but at a junior and highly informal level. He and Clemente had not been particularly close, but Blass was among the members of the team who flew at once to Puerto Rico for the funeral services, where Blass delivered a eulogy in behalf of the club. It should also be understood that his was not at all the somewhat commonplace experience of an established and well-paid major-league star who suffers through one or two mediocre seasons. A letter-high fastball, with good mustard on it., Now Ill do it again, until I missbust him up and in. Has it gone dead? Her age is 69. Their fastball comes in high, their curves hang, the rest of their prime weapons desert them. His statistics for the 1973 season were three wins and nine defeats, and an earned-run average of 9.81. 2023 Cond Nast. Sudden and terrible batting and pitching slumps are mysterious while they last; the moment they end, they tend to be forgotten. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. After that, Bill Virdon announced that Blass would probably not start another game; the Pirates were in a pennant race, and the time for patience had run out. On my last morning with Steve Blass, we sat in his family room and played an imaginary ballgame togetherhalf an inning of baseball. But then he suddenly shut up about it, and he never talked that way again. The Pirates were again engaged in a close and exhausting pennant race fought out over the last six weeks of the season; they moved into first place for good only two days before the end, won their half-pennant, and then were eliminated by the Dodgers in a four-game championship playoff. The low, low minors. 1. In truth, nothing helped. Blass is a modest man, both in temperament and in background, and his success and fame were quite sudden and, to some degree, unexpected. I dont think there are too many here who are thinking, Look, theres the wild man. Ive had hundreds and hundreds of lettersI dont know how manyand not one of them was down on me., In the game, Bob Gibson pitched against the Pirates Jerry Reuss. This famous photograph (by Rusty Kennedy, of the Associated Press) does not require captioning for most baseball fans or for almost anyone within the Greater Pittsburgh area, where it is still prominently featured in the art collections of several hundred taverns. I dont think anybody will ever understand his decline. Karen Blass #176481. He was awarded the sports car as the most valuable player of the Series, but Steve Blass was not far out of the running for the prize. On April 24, 2014, the Jamestown Jammers hosted a special event in Warren featuring Pittsburgh Pirates player and announcer Steve Blass. One of the teams always had to be the Indians. The enormous alterations of professional sport in the past three decades, and especially the prodigious inflation of franchises and salaries, have made it evident even to the most thoughtless fan that the play he has come to see is serious indeed, and that the heart of the game is not physical but financial. He told Joe Brown that Steves problems might be over. Don Osborn, a gentle man in his mid-sixties, says, Steves problem was mental. Karen Blass. In the old days, he used to get mad at himself after a bad showing, and sometimes he threw things around in the clubhouse. The best season-long earned-run average of the modern baseball era was Bob Gibsons 1.12 mark, set in 1968. Bill Virdon, the Pirate manager, was patient and told Blass to take all the time he needed to find himself; he reminded Blass that oncein 1970he had had an early record of two and eight but had then come back to finish the season with a mark of ten and twelve. He and Karen rented an apartment in Charleston, and the whole family moved down when the school year ended; David and Chris enjoyed the informal atmosphere around the ballpark, where they were permitted to shag flies in batting practice. The third result is Stephen M Blass age 40s in Summerland, CA in the Summerland neighborhood. You have no business being there, performing that way as a major-league pitcher. Yes, you know that exact sequence has happened to Perez many times, Blass said. Karen Lamb March 18, 1948 - December 7, 2020 Karen Lamb was born on March 18, 1948 and passed away on December 7, 2020 and is under the care of Casdorph & Curry Funeral Home. 79 (18 1942) Steve Blass/. Steve Blass pitched in parts of 10 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates. This argument is a difficult one, and is probably impossible to resolve. It was the worst experience of my baseball life, Blass told me. " Down The Drain " is an unusual sports story. There is a further marvela touch of pure fortunein the background, where a spectator in dark glasses, wearing a dark suit, has risen from his seat in the grandstand and is lifting his arms in triumph. . Nellie King (A former pitcher with the Pirates. This is one reason that athletes are paid so well, and one reason that fear of failurethe unspeakable chokingis their deepest and most private anxiety. . This is my debut book as an author. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK19. He and Karen Lamb were married in the fall of 1963, and they went to the Dominican Republic that winter, where Steve played for the Cibaeas Eagles and began working on a slider. It wasnt so bad, Blass told me. He still knew most of the hitters in his league, and, probably as well as any other pitcher around, he knew what to pitch to them in a given situation. Then I looked out a few minutes later, and there was a whole bunch of them yelling and rolling around on the grass with him, like puppies. He was struck on the right forearm by a ball hit by Joe Torre in 1970, and spent a month on the disabled list. One of my personal favorites involves Chelsea captain John Terry and his former teammate Wayne Bridge. I was a total Indians fan, completely buggy. But I couldnt always share that, and I didnt have his ability to keep things under control.. I began worrying about making big money and not performing. He tried pitching with his left foot tucked up behind his right knee until the last possible second of his delivery. Here are pictures from November 2022 show. We sure missed it., For the final three innings of the game, Blass and I moved upstairs to general manager Joe Browns box. Steves humor in the clubhouse was unmatched, relief pitcher Dave Giusti said. He sulks or rages, according to his nature; he asks for help; he works long hours on his motion. Think about the enormity of that feat. Steve Blass, noticing my confusion, explained that, in order to avert a parade of walked batters in these games, any strike thrown by a pitcher was considered to have wiped out the balls he had already delivered to the same batter; a strike on the 30 count reconverted things to 01. The Blass family room was trophied and comfortable. Answers here become more gingerly. Down there, youve got to look at it all in pieces. O.K., he said. Robinson fanned, and Blass said, Same old twenty-eight., The Pirates won easily, 50, with Jerry Reuss going all the way for the shutout, and just before the end Steve said, I always had trouble sleeping after pitching a real good game. He and Karen had agreed that the family would go back to Bradenton for spring training, and that he would give it one more try. 9 books | 63 friends Ann-See Yeoh. Results focussed and relationship orientated sales leader and business development professional. I thought Id died and gone to Heaven, Blass said to me. Tom Seaver went through such a slump last summer. It was an outstanding Series, made memorable above all by the play of Roberto Clemente, who batted .414 over the seven games and fielded his position with extraordinary zeal. Only ten holes separated his two aces. Steve Blass was born on April 18, 1942 in Canaan, Connecticut, USA. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. mark of 2.28 and Catfish Hunters 2.49 in the A.L. Somehow, he didnt show any emotion at all. (His pay, which had been ninety thousand dollars in 1973, was cut to seventy-five thousand for the next season, and then to sixty-three thousand this spring.) Blass coached quietly, moving the fielders in or over a few steps, asking the shortstop if he knew how many outs there were, reminding someone to take his hands out of his pockets. He picked us all up. Now go and do that again for me. So much money and so many people depend on you. A Clemente, however, can never be replaced. We sat behind home plate, down near the screen, and during the first few innings a lot of young fans came clustering down the aisle to get Steves autograph. We tried everythingI didnt know anything else to do. He was in great physical shape, as usual, and his arm felt fine; in his entire pitching career, Blass never experienced a sore arm. Karen@Goldlamb1.com. Books: A Pirate for Life Children: David Blass, Chris Blass. Sign Up. I remember it was raining as we came out of the tunnel in Pittsburgh, and I drove straight to Forbes Field and went in and found the attendant and put my uniform on, at two in the afternoon. One day in January, he went over to the field house at the University of Pittsburgh and joined some other Pirates there for a workout. Im real proud of the fact that this thing hasnt bothered us at home. . Wed stop at an all-night restaurant every now and then, and Id walk in with a two-day beard and my old Charleston Charlies uniform on, looking like go-to-hell, Blass said. SEND FLOWERS Add a Memory Share Obituary . Blass said, We got in the car, and I floored it all the way across Ohio. Joe Morgan is strictly a fastball hitter, so I want to throw him a bad fastball to start him off, he said. I asked if maintaining this superhuman calm might not have damaged Steve in some way, or even added to his problems. "It was under siege," Blass. The Pirate organization had been extraordinarily patient, but was, after all, in the business of baseball. He sure won a lot of big games for us on the Pirates., Joe Brown said, Ive tried to keep my distance and not to guess too much about what happened. Well, I really did it. The Cubs batted around against him in the first inning he pitched, and in the sixth he gave up back-to-back home runs. John Terry and Wayne Bridge, Chelsea Football Club. What happened to Blass isn't an anomaly. After giving up a home run to the Reds second batter of the day, Joe Morgan, which was hit off a first-pitch fastball, Blass readjusted his plans and went mostly to a big, slow curve, causing the Reds to hit innumerable rainmaking outfield flies, and won by 51. Karen Lamb 10 likes. You cant imagine the feeling that you suddenly have no idea what youre doing out there. A pattern pitcher, whose slider works because of its location. Nobody knows, but some speculation is permissibleindeed, is perhaps demanded of anyone who is even faintly aware of the qualities of Steve Blass and the depths of his suffering. I promised he would have no control problems. He threw fifty-one pitches, but only seventeen of them were strikes. He won nineteen games for the Pirates and lost only eight, posting an earned-run average of 2.48sixth-best in the National Leagueand being selected for the N.L. Blass did hit a number of players in his career, of course, but he never caused anyone to go on the disabled list or, for that matter, to miss even one days work. He makes you play his game.. Steve Blass was born on April 18, 1942, in the rural town of Canaan, Connecticut. The frustrating, bewildering part of it all was that while working alone with a catcher Blass continued to throw as well as he ever had; his fastball was alive, and his slider and curve shaved the corners of the plate. The pizza disappeared rapidly, and then David and Chris went off upstairs to do their homework or watch TV. There is no doubt but that the sudden taking away of their most famous and vivid star affected all the Pirates, including Steve Blass. Steve Blass played 10 . His salary at the beginning of 1971the year of his two great Series winswas forty thousand dollars; two years later, it was ninety thousand, and there were World Series and playoff checks on top of that. His two Series victories, by contrast, were momentous by any standardand, indeed, were among the very best pitching performances of his entire seven years in the majors. Ill begin him with that pitch, because I dont want to get into any more trouble with the slider and have him dunk one in. The date of the photograph is October 17, 1971; the place is Memorial Stadium, in Baltimore. I was encouraged. Karen Blass, 79. Learning the names of all the kids is the hard part, he said to me. In Steve Blass's first big league start he outdueled future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, pictured above. Every accomplishment, every stage of the gameyou have no idea how much he loved it, how he enjoyed the game.. I remember the vivid contrast in styles between the two stars in the noisy, floodlit, champagne-drenched Pirate clubhouse that afternoon. aren is a top-producing agent at Beacham and Company Realtors and has been selling . Ive had my own ideas about Steves pitching, about the mystery, but they havent made much difference. Karen Blass. He was encouraged about his pitching, but he had been encouraged before. 1 bid. Steve Blass is a former pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and has been broadcasting their games as color commentator since 1987. Explore Steve Blass net worth, bio, age, height, family, wiki, birthday, career, salary [Last Update 2021]! His decline, however, was partially attributable to his failure to stay in shape. Last year, Ferguson Jenkins, of the Texas Rangers, gave up only forty-five walks in three hundred and twenty-eight innings pitched, or an average of 1.19 per game. The catcher is Manny Sanguillen, of the Pirates, and his leaping teammate is pitcher Steve Blass, who has just defeated the defending (and suddenly former) World Champion Baltimore Orioles by a score of 21, giving up four hits. Blass never pitched well in the majors after Clementes death. He walked Mike Lum, throwing one pitch behind him in the process, which allowed Evans to move down to second. The sinking fastball tends to tail off just a little., Well, now we come back with another slider, and Ill try to throw it inside. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Join Facebook to connect with Karen Lamb and others you may know. Erik Sherman has been a freelance sportswriter for more than 30 years and is a graduate of Emerson College where he lettered in baseball for four seasons. I really think thats one of the things thats helped me in baseball.. and an M.A. Blass had started the game in Toledo, and he was so disgusted with his performance that he got back on the bus without having showered or taken off his uniform. My first big-league autograph was Hank Majeski., Blass grew up into an athletea good sandlot football player, a second-team All-State Class B basketball star, but most of all a pitcher, like his father. Home Real Estate, LLC. It was time to get out. Tony Perez was the next batter. Los Angeles. He was a terrific mimic. Danny Murtaugh waited, but Blass could not get the third out. At eleven that same night, they reboarded the bus and drove to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for their next date, arriving at about nine in the morning. Ill give him a slider, but awayoff the outside.. Maybe your control is something that can just go. He is very tallsix-six. The word on him among the other clubs in his league was something like: Good but not overpowering stuff, excellent slider, good curve, good changeup curve. Pitcher Ron Reed singled, driving in two more runs, and was wild-pitched to second. . In the summer of 54, when they won that record one hundred and eleven games, I managed to find every single box score in the newspapers and clip it, which took some doing up where we lived. Thus, it may be posited as a rule that a major-league hurler who gives up an average of just over three and a half runs per game is about at the middle of his professionan average pitcher. Oh, no, he said. Then, in late February, 1974, Blass reported to Bradenton with the other Pirate pitchers and catchers. At one point, he leaned forward a little and peered into the Pirate dugout and murmured, Is Dock Ellis over in his regular corner there?, but for the most part he kept his eyes on the field. He lit a cigar and blew out a little smoke. Rose, I decided, didnt offer. These are routine pitching mistakes, which almost all pitchers are guilty of from time to time, and Blass worked on them assiduously. 2 2. I feel real bad about it. . Maybe I should have come right out and said he seemed to have lost his will to fight, but its hard to shock somebody, to keep bearing in on him. Blass once told me that there were at least seventeen theories about the reason for his failure. . DAYTON, Ohio - Karen Lamb, 61, of Trotwood, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to six months in prison followed by six months in home detention for stealing Social Security benefits and COVID-19 stimulus money in the name of her deceased brother. Not only did he never have a sore arm but he never had any of the stiffness and pain that most pitchers feel on the day after a game. The fastball is my best pitch, but Id get right to the top of my delivery and then something would take over, and Id know even before I released the ball that it wasnt going to be in the strike zone. No control problems. Who Is Steve Blass's Wife? Youre just flowing easy.. In spite of it all, Blass has kept his humor and has enjoyed life. A little later, Virdon gave him a start in the Hall of Fame game at Cooperstown; this is a meaningless annual exhibition, played that year between the Pirates and the Texas Rangers, but Blass was as wild as ever and had to be relieved after two and one-third innings. Its only nickel psychology, but I think theres a lost kid in Steve. What a player is thinking is about eighty per cent of it. He was the son of a plumber. Bill Blass. "I had all kinds of games, with different, very complicated ground rules. Blass then returned to Bradenton and worked for several days with the Pirates minor-league pitching coach, Larry Sherry, on some pitching mechanics. Quick Facts She was born on 1953-01-31. He says he hated the idea of hitting and possibly sidelining one of his teammates, but he is convinced that this anxiety was the result of his control problems rather than the cause. That Steves problems might be over ; he asks for help ; works... 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