Stephen Robert Blass (born April 18, 1942) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player and television sports

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

. He played his entire career in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in and from through . Blass was one of the National League's top pitchers between 1968 and 1972, helping the Pirates win four

National League Eastern Division The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title. The division was created when the National Leag ...

titles in five years between and . He played a key role in the Pirates victory over the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the

1971 World Series The 1971 World Series was the championship round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1971 season and featured the first night game in its history. The 68th edition of the Fall Classic was a best-of-seven playoff between the defending World Series ...

when he recorded two complete game victories. He remains the last National League pitcher to throw a complete game in Game Seven of a World Series. After his playing career ended, Blass had a 34-year career as a television

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for Pittsburgh Pirates games.

Playing career

Blass was born in

Canaan, Connecticut Canaan is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,080 at the 2020 census, down from 1,234 at the 2010 census. The town of Canaan is often referred to locally by the name of its principal settlement, Falls V ...

. Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, he made his major league debut at the age of 22 in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and joined the team permanently in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. He won 18 games in 1968, including a 2.12 ERA with seven

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s, both career highs, and he finished particularly strong, winning the NL Player of the Month award for September with a 5–1 record, 1.65 ERA, and 46 SO. In 1969 he won 16 games with a career-high 147

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. From 1969 to 1972 he won 60 games, with a career-high 19 victories in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. In that season, he was a member of the National League team in the 1972 All-Star Game and was the runner up to Steve Carlton for the National League

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

. In the

against the

, Blass pitched two

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

wins, allowing only seven hits and two runs in 18 innings, and was the winning pitcher in the 7th and deciding game. He finished second in the voting for

World Series MVP The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The aw ...

behind teammate

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...

. In a ten-season major league career, Blass posted a 103–76 record with 896

s and a 3.63

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 1,597

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, including 16

s and 57

"Steve Blass disease"

Besides his Series performance, Blass is best known for his sudden and inexplicable loss of control after the 1972 season. His ERA climbed to 9.85 in the 1973 season, during which he walked 84 batters in innings, and struck out only 27. After spending most of 1974 in the minor leagues, he retired from baseball in March 1975. Two months later writer

Roger Angell Roger Angell (September 19, 1920 – May 20, 2022) was an American essayist known for his writing on sports, especially baseball. The only writer ever elected into both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Baseball Writers' Associa ...

chronicled Blass's travails in an essay in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. A condition referred to as "Steve Blass disease" has become a part of baseball lexicon. The "diagnosis" is applied to talented players who inexplicably and permanently seem to lose their ability to throw a baseball accurately. The fielder's variant of "Steve Blass disease" is sometimes referred to in baseball terminology as "

Steve Sax Stephen Louis Sax (born January 29, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1994, most notably as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers with whom he wo ...

syndrome". Notable victims of "Steve Blass disease" include

Rick Ankiel Richard Alexander Ankiel (; born July 19, 1979) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Ho ...

Mark Wohlers Mark Edward Wohlers (born January 23, 1970) is a former professional baseball pitcher. A right-hander, he played all or parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball, exclusively as a relief pitcher. He is best known for his years with the Atlanta ...

Dontrelle Willis Dontrelle Wayne Willis (born January 12, 1982), nicknamed "The D-Train", is an American former left-handed professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinn ...

Ricky Romero Ricardo Romero Jr. (born November 6, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays. Prep career After spending three years at Garfield High School, Romero graduate ...

, and

Daniel Bard Daniel Paul Bard (born June 25, 1985) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Boston Red Sox from 2009 to 2013. In 2011, Bard set a Red Sox team record wit ...

. In an interview years later, Blass mentioned that he was content with how his career panned out, mentioning that he had gotten ten good years with the Pirates, won 100 games, and appeared in a World Series. He did mention that the sudden death of teammate and close friend

in the offseason before he lost control – and the associated grief related to suddenly losing someone so close – did not play a factor in him losing his control.

In pop culture

In House, MD season three, episode 21, Dr. Gregory House thinks that Dr. Eric Foreman has gotten the Yips from killing a patient in the previous episode. He briefly explains the condition and says that Dr. Foreman has lost his confidence. In his explanation he mentions, by name, Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series champion Steve Blass as having suffered the condition. The Season 5 episode of Northern Exposure “Blood Ties” features an explicit reference to Blass during a discussion of Dr. Joel Fleischman's sudden inability to hit a vein while attempting to draw blood. In season 1 of

Prison Playbook ''Prison Playbook'' () is a 2017 South Korean television series directed by Shin Won-ho and starring Park Hae-soo and Jung Kyung-ho. The series marks Park Hae-soo's first-ever lead role. It aired from November 22, 2017 to January 18, 2018 on tv ...

episode 14, the main character, Kim Je-hyuk, is attributed with having Steve Blass disease when trying to make his comeback in baseball. Another reference is made to a golfer who suddenly got the Yips.

Post-playing career

Blass worked in the late 1970s as a Pittsburgh-area salesman for

Jostens Jostens is an American manufacturer of memorabilia. The company is primarily known for its production of yearbooks and class rings for various high schools and colleges as well as championship rings for sports. Jostens also produced photobook pro ...

, a company that manufactures school class rings. He joined the Pirates' TV and radio broadcast team in 1983 as a part-time

, earning a full-time post in 1986. Before the 2005 season, he announced that he would announce only home games from then on to spend more time with his family. Blass retired from broadcasting in 2019 after 60 years with the organization as a player and broadcaster. He was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. Blass' autobiography, ''A Pirate For Life'' (Triumph Books), was released on May 1, 2012. His memoirs, co-written with Erik Sherman, encompass his struggles with Steve Blass disease and his days as a color commentator for the Pirates. Blass was announced as an inaugural member of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall Of Fame on August 7, 2022.

References

External links