A 1975 CAREER-CAPPER FOR STEVE BLASS

Today’s blog post has a career-capping 1975 card for pitcher Steve Blass of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had a very nice career end suddenly because of a lack of control that was never fully explained, and left me fascinated all these years later:

In 1972 Blass was pretty much at the top of the baseball world, having come off a World Championship season in 1971, helping the Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles for their first title since 1960.
He would go on to finish the 1972 season with a career-high 19 wins along with a sparkling 2.49 earned run average, even making his first, and only, All-Star team.
He was already an eight year Major League veteran pitcher, yet still 31 years of age when the 1973 season opened up, ready to continue building on what was shaping up to be a solid career.
Then the inexplicable happened: Blass could not find any control on the mound. There was no injury. He was still healthy and young.
Yet for some reason Blass lost the ability to pitch, and it eventually got so bad that in the blink of an eye his career was over by the time the 1974 season began.
To put things into perspective, in 1972 Blass pitched 249.2 innings and walked 84 batters, while in 1973, he walked the same amount, in only 88.2 innings.
His ERA rose from 2.49 in 1972 to 9.85 in 1973, while giving up 69 earned runs in 1972 to 97 in 1973. Again, we’re talking 249.2 innings in 1972 to just 88.2 a year later.
In 1974, still suffering from this undetermined inability to throw a strike, Blass attempted to continue his career, and it ended up being one more game, as he pitched five innings on April 17th, allowing five hits while walking seven batters, eventually giving up five earned runs.
He tried fixing whatever the problem was in the Minors, but there was no fix, as he’d end up throwing 61 innings, and walking an incredible 103 batters, getting hit hard as well to a ballooned 9.74 ERA in 17 games.
Though his career was sadly over at only 32 years of age, he did manage to turn that into another great career, this time in broadcasting as he would jump right into what turned out to be a 34 year career as a Pirates commentator on television.
It’s odd to think that Blass could have easily pitched well into the 1980’s, being so identified with 1970’s sports. Kind of like imagining Koufax playing into the 1970’s, or Mel Stottlemyre and Dick Allen playing into the 1980’s.
Luckily for Blass he took the tough break and turned it into something great, a broadcasting career that even surpassed his success on a Big League mound.

MISSING IN ACTION- "IN ACTION": STEVE BLASS

The next “missing” 1972 In-Action card I wanted to post up was one for Pittsburgh Pirates all-star pitcher, and enigma, Steve Blass, who had already put together a very nice Major League career before it would be derailed because of inexplicable lack of control:

I realize his 1974 card has a very similar picture, maybe even from the same game, but it’s such a classic follow-through I had to use it for the In-Action card.
For Blass, he was coming off of a World Championship winning effort in the 1971 Series against the Baltimore Orioles, as well as a 15-8 record with a 2.85 earned run average when this card would have come out.
In 1972 he would have his best season as a big league pitcher, going 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA over 33 appearances, 32 of which were starts.
That would give him a lifetime 100-67 record at this point, but then without reason the floor went out from under him, as he could not control his pitches, to the point where his career was over after only 23 starts in 1973 and one single start in 1974.
To put things in perspective, Blass walked 84 batters in 1972 over 249.2 innings pitched., yet in 1973 he walked the exact same amount of batters, but in only 88.2 innings.
Without reason, Blass’ career was over and he was still only 32 years old, barely one season from a second place finish in the National League Cy Young Award.