Intelligent, knows how to win. His decline, however, was partially attributable to his failure to stay in shape. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1964 and from 1966 through 1974. See full bio Born: The biggest picture in the room hung over the sofaan enlarged color photograph of the Blass family at the Father-and-Sons Day at Three Rivers Stadium in 1971. Then, in late February, 1974, Blass reported to Bradenton with the other Pirate pitchers and catchers. There is no other player in recent baseball historyat least none with Blasss record and credentialswho has lost his form in such sudden and devastating fashion and been totally unable to recover. I never could have stood it., When Blass is asked about this last summer of his baseball career, he will only say that it was kind of a difficult time or not the most fun Ive had. In extended conversations about himself, he often gives an impression of an armored blandness that suggests a failure of emotion; this apparent insensitivity about himself contrasts almost shockingly with his subtle concern for the feelings of his teammates and his friends and his family, and even of strangers. My Work. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) Lowering his ERA to 2.12, Blass won 18 games and emerged as the clear ace of the Pirates' staff. You can tell a man what to do, but you cant make him do it. He was afraid of injuryafraid of being struck by a line drive. By early August, Blasss record with Charleston was two and nine, and 9.74. And if we were home, Id get up about seven in the morning, before anybody else was up, and go downstairs and make myself a cup of coffee, and then Id get the newspaper and open it to the sports section and just Just soak it all in., We thanked Joe Brown and said good night, and as we went down in the elevator I asked Steve Blass if he wanted to stop off in the clubhouse for a minute and see his old friends. Reconnect with Karen Lamb (Blass) by joining our alumni site today. 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. mark of 2.28 and Catfish Hunters 2.49 in the A.L. They urged him to cut loose with the fastball. Karen Lamb Miller passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family on June 20, 2010, at Saint Luke's Hospital, after a sudden illness. He does not talk about itin part out of natural reticence but also because the Pirate front office, in an effort to protect his privacy, turned away inquiries into this area by Pittsburgh writers and persistently refused to comment on whether any such therapy was undertaken. If he came back now, however, it would have to be at the minor-league level, and even if he made it back to the majors, he could expect only three or four more years before his effectiveness would decline because of age and he would have to start thinking about retirement. Ill throw it in the dirt to show it to himget him geared to that kind of speed. Blass was enjoying himself, and it seemed to me that the familiarities and surprises of the game had restored something in him. I had all kinds of games, with different, very complicated ground rules, he said. 2023 Cond Nast. He threw well. He was always up, always agitating. Im not certain that I saw Blass work in the regular season of 1972, but I did see him pitch the opening game of the National League playoffs that fall against the Cincinnati Reds, in Pittsburgh. . See Photos. The six-day waiver period had expired, and none of the other clubs had claimed him. Somehow, he didnt show any emotion at all. The 1972 season, when Blass won 19 games and made the National League All-Star team, was his best in terms of numbers. Listen, its tough out there. Blass agreed. What pleased him most that year was his consistency. Blass spent four days with him, and then rejoined the Pirates, this time as a batting-practice pitcher. 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. Blass knew that his case was desperate. I was embarrassed and disgusted. The best season-long earned-run average of the modern baseball era was Bob Gibsons 1.12 mark, set in 1968. At this ballgame, he looked like any young suburban father who had caught an early train home from the office in order to see his kids in action. I guess I dont have a tendency to go into things in much depth. He became smug and was no longer hungry. 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. Steve was startled by the unfamiliar view. CELEBRITY GOSSIPY BIO. Perez is not a good high, hard fastball hitter, Blass said. (Blass is myopic, and wears glasses while watching television and driving. The gamethe White Sox vs. the Orioleswas a close, 31 affair, in which the winning White Sox pitcher, John McKenzie, struck out seventeen batters, in six innings. Last year, both leagues had ten pitchers who finished up below 3.00, led by Buzz Capras N.L. When I was pitching well, I was doing that very thing. His eyesight went bad. He could do Robert Kennedy. Davey Johnson singled, scoring another run. Both of his arms are flung wide, and he, too, is shouting. Dick Radatz, a very tall relief pitcher with the Red Sox a decade ago, had four good years, and then grew increasingly wild and ineffective. To put it in simple terms, a good, middling pitcher should not surrender more than three or four walks per gameunless he is also striking out batters in considerable clusters. It didnt even have to be major-league ball. Other elite athletes have experienced the same loss of ability. You get locked in, you see yourself doing things before they happen. He picked us all up. Now, after ball one, Ill give him a medium-to-slow curveball and try to get it over the platejust throw it for a strike., Now I throw him a real slow curveballa regular rainbow. His was, to be sure, a famous victorya close and bitterly fought pitchers battle against the Orioles Mike Cuellar, in which the only score for seven innings had been a solo home run by the celebrated Pirate outfielder Roberto Clemente. For a time, his performance was borderline, but his few wins were in sloppy, high-scoring contests, and his bad outings were marked by streaks of uncharacteristic wildness and ineffectuality. The Cubs won, 20, but Steve gave up only two hits and one earned run in the five innings he worked. But the moment a batter stood in against him he became a different pitcher, especially when throwing a fastballa pitcher apparently afraid of seriously injuring somebody. He gave up two runs in the second, but he seemed to throw without much tension, and he even struck out Bill Melton, the Chicago third baseman, with a fastball. With Joe Browns permission, he left the Charlies and flew West to consult Dr. Bill Harrison, of Davis, California. With me, everything was just a continuation of what had come before. He poured himself another cup of coffee and lit up a Garcia y Vega. Pretty good inning, I said. Steve Blass was born on April 18, 1942 in Canaan, Connecticut, USA. O.K., he said. Roberto Clemente, of course, is dead; he was killed on December 31, 1972, in Puerto Rico, in the crash of a plane he had chartered to carry emergency relief supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua. Being good up here is so toughpeople have no idea. Hey, you can really see how it works from here, cant you? he said. Id throw the ball up, and then Id be diving into the weeds for pop-ups or running back and calling for the long fly balls, and all. If a player made a mistake, Steve knew how to say something about it that would let the guy know it was O.K. He pitched on opening day, against the Cards, but threw poorly and was relieved, although the Pirates eventually won the game. Steve Blass, who is now thirty-three, is out of baseball, having been recently driven into retirement by two years of pitching wildnessa sudden, near-total inability to throw strikes. All this was said with an air of summing up, of finality, but at other times that evening I noticed that it seemed difficult for Blass to talk about his baseball career as a thing of the past; now and then he slipped into the present tenseas if it were still going on. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. 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. 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. And so it went. You have no business being there, performing that way as a major-league pitcher. He was an infielder before he became a trainer, and played one season in the majorswith the Pirates, in 1952): Steve is unique physically. Pirates broadcaster and World Series champion Steve Blass is congratulated by his wife, Karen, during a ceremony honoring his 60 years of service with the team Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, at PNC Park. I dont think Ill ever forget it. The mystery of Steve Blasss decline was old stuff by now in most big-league-city newspapers, but as soon as he was sent down, there was a fresh wave of attention from the national press and the networks, and sportswriters for newspapers in Memphis and Rochester and Richmond and the other International League cities looked on his arrival in town as a God-given feature story. The subject of the picture, of course, is classicalthe celebration of the last out of the seventh game of the World Series. See Photos. He tried not to think much about baseball, and he didnt work on his pitching. He appeared in 23 games, started 18 and only amassed 88.2 innings pitched. He makes you play his game.. He has been married to Karen Lamb since October 5, 1963. Two days later, the roof fell in. All-Star team. The photograph shows a perfectly arrested moment of joy. PITTSBURGH . I really think thats one of the things thats helped me in baseball.. Steve Blass passed over my questions about whether he had ever felt this kind of fear when on the mound. View Profile. Blass flew out to California to see Dr. Bill Harrison once more, and also to visit a hypnotist, Arthur Ellen, who has worked with several major-league players, and has apparently helped some of them, including Dodger pitcher Don Sutton, remarkably. The residential address for Karen is 2711 Lee Av, Early, IA 50535. Blass walked the first two men he faced, and gave up a stolen base and a wild pitch and a run-scoring single before retiring the side. Steve Blass Height, Weight & Measurements At 80 years old, Steve Blass height is 6' (1.83 m) . Then baseball suddenly stopped being fun for him. Joe Morgan stood in, and Blass puffed on his cigar and looked at the ceiling. Resides in Buffalo, NY. I was so worried that I couldnt get back to sleepand all this was just over going out and throwing to pitchers. . He had mechanical difficulties, with some underlying mental cause. Professional sports have a powerful hold on us because they display and glorify remarkable physical capacities, and because the artificial demands of games played for very high rewards produce vivid responses. When Chris Blass went down swinging in the fourth, his father came over and said, The sinker down and away is tough. Steve Blass has a longish, lightly freckled face, a tilted nose, and an alert and engaging expression. On August 1st, he started against the Mets and Tom Seaver at Shea Stadium and gave up three runs and five walks in one and two-thirds innings. District Office in California. He pitched with extreme care, throwing mostly sliders. Three days after Blass married high school sweetheart Karen Lamb in 1963, he went to the Dominican Republic not for vacation, but to learn to throw the slider. In the end, it was talking to people that did it. The former Karen Lamb, who will celebrate her 49th anniversary with Mr. Blass today [Friday], came from an athletic family. The Charlies did a lot of travelling by bus. Ralph Garr grounded out. Maybe it was like his never having a sore arm. I had talked that day to a number of Blasss old teammates, and all of them had mentioned his cheerfulness and his jokes, and what they had meant to the team over the years. This time, the fastball had been much better, and at least he could hold on to that; maybe the problem had been mechanical all along. Thats just to set up another slider outside., Were ahead one and two nowright? Blass said. Karen Lamb (Blass) is a 1960 graduate of Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, Connecticut. Its no big thing, but suddenly its gone. He paused, and then he laughed in a self-deprecating way. Down there, youve got to look at it all in pieces. But decades from now he'll still be remembered in Pittsburgh for the prior. On a wall opposite a long sofa there was, among other things, a plaque representing the J. Roy Stockton Award for Outstanding Baseball Achievement, a Dapper Dan Award for meritorious service to Pittsburgh, a shiny metal bat with the engraved signatures of the National League All-Stars of 1972, a 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates World Champions bat, a signed photograph of President Nixon, and a framed, decorated proclamation announcing Steve Blass Day in Falls Village, Connecticut: Be it known that this twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord 1971, the citizens of Falls Village do set aside and do honor with pride Steve Blass, the tall skinny kid from Falls Village, who is now the hero of baseball and will be our hero always. It was signed by the towns three selectmen. Karencita Blass. Ive had the greatest moments a person could ever want. Oh, no, he said. Forty-seven years old): Right after that terrible game in Atlanta, Steve told me that it had felt as if the whole world was pressing down on him while he was out there. This is circular, and perhaps more a description of symptoms than of the disability itself. Uncle and Aunt, Larry and Karen (Erickson) Stoller, Uncle Chris Blass, Aunt Coleen Blass, Cousins Lyndsi . 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. I can still recall how Blass looked that afternoonhis characteristic, feet-together stance at the outermost, first-base edge of the pitching rubber, and then the pitch, delivered with a swastika-like scattering of arms and legs and a final lurch to the leftand I also remember how I kept thinking that at any moment the sluggers of the Big Red Machine would stop overstriding and overswinging against such unintimidating deliveries and drive Blass to cover. One day, the team made an eight-hour trip from Charleston to Toledo, where they played a night game. They can bury you before you even get started. He has never worn glasses when pitching, which meant that Pirate catchers had to flash him signals with hand gestures rather than with finger waggles; however, he saw well enough to win when he was winning, and his vision has not altered in recent years. ) However, it is a fact that a professional athleteand most especially a baseball playerfaces a much more difficult task in attempting to regain lost form than an ailing businessman, say, or even a troubled artist; no matter how painful his case has been, the good will of his associates or the vagaries of critical judgment matter not at all when he tries to return. 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. They have two children. Steve Blass Disease. shoom! Its that good feeling. What happened to Blass isn't an anomaly. What happened to Steve Blass? There is no doubt but that the sudden taking away of their most famous and vivid star affected all the Pirates, including Steve Blass. He was in great physical shape, as usual, and his arm felt fine; in his entire pitching career, Blass never experienced a sore arm. These are routine pitching mistakes, which almost all pitchers are guilty of from time to time, and Blass worked on them assiduously. Where was Steve Blass born? In 2009, he sent a record of a completely different variety that demonstrated his ability to still be accurate at something: he posted two holes-in-one in a single round of golf. He was struck on the right forearm by a ball hit by Joe Torre in 1970, and spent a month on the disabled list. What was mystifying about the whole thing was that Blass still had his stuff, especially when he warmed up or threw on the sidelines. No wonder its so hard to play this game right., In the Pirates seventh, Bill Robinson pinch-hit for Ed Kirkpatrick, and Blass said, Well, that still makes me wince a little. It was a moment or two before I realized that Robinson was wearing Blasss old uniform number. He was the son of a plumber. No one, including Blass himself, can cure or explain it. Bio gossipy. Steve Blass Movies Steve Blass Books Steve Blass Wikipedia Photo. and an M.A. In the photo, Karen Blass looks extremely pretty in a large straw hat, and all three male Blasses are wearing Pirate uniforms; the boys uniforms look a little funny, because in their excitement each boy had put on the others pants. He suddenly laughed. He had another pretty good outing against the Cardinals, for no decision, and then started against the Mets, in New York, on September 21st, but got only two men out, giving up four instant runs on a walk and four hits. Blass went back and corrected minute details, to no avail. Tony Bartirome, the Pirate trainer, who is a close friend of Steves, thought he was pitching as well as he ever had. (One of the stars just behind him was John Lamb, who later pitched for the Pirates; Lambs older sister, Karen, was a classmate of Steves, and in time she found herself doubly affiliated with the Pirate mound staff. Blass was never thought of as one of the great pitchers of his time, but in the late sixties and early seventies he was probably the most consistent starter on the Pirate staff; it was, in fact, a staff without stars. Ive had my own ideas about Steves pitching, about the mystery, but they havent made much difference. Tom Seaver went through such a slump last summer. He threw a lot, once pitching a phantom nine-inning game while his catcher, Dave Ricketts, called the balls and strikes. A ballplayer learns very early that he cant bring the game home with him every night, he said once. I am with Carly and Naami in one picture. 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