#232 Steve Blass - Pittsburgh Pirates

Stephen Robert Blass
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  165
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

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.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime - Fair Lawn, NJ) - Card #485
This is the first of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March.  We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room.  This Blass card was a little over $4 and was one of 13 cards purchased from the dealer America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Depending on my ability to compose five posts a week on the cards acquired at this show, I should be completely caught up by mid-October.  So get used to seeing this passage on the blog!  It's entirely feasible we complete our 1965 Topps set by the end of 2022, although nine of the remaining 12 cards needed are fairly expensive.

The Card / Pirates Team Set
This is Blass' rookie card and Topps was banking on the young pitcher spending the season in the Pirates' rotation.  His first big league shutout came on June 9, 1964 against the Phillies.  Blass held the Phillies to four hits while striking out seven.  First baseman John Herrnstein (#534) struck out three times against Blass.

1965 Season
Blass appeared in 24 games for the Pirates in 1964, but he'd spend the entire 1965 season in the minors pitching for the Triple-A Columbus Jets.  With the Jets, he was 13-11 with a 3.07 ERA in 28 games, making 25 starts.  Blass led the team in wins, complete games (7), shutouts (4) and strikeouts (117), but he wouldn't earn a promotion back to the Pirates until the start of the 1966 season.

1966 Topps #344

1968 Topps #499

1971 Topps #143

1972 Topps #229

1974 Topps #595

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

69 - Blass non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/1/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #231 Jerry Adair - Baltimore Orioles

Next Card:  #233 Don Zimmer - Washington Senators