Steve Blass

Lore & Background

Blass is best known for his sudden and inexplicable loss of control after the 1972 season, a condition referred to as 'Steve Blass disease.' His ERA climbed to 9.85 in the 1973 season, during which he walked 84 batters in 88+2⁄3 innings and struck out only 27; his WAR of -3.9 that year, while among the worst, is not the lowest of any pitcher in the modern era—for instance, Jack Nabors posted a -4.3 WAR in 1916. After spending most of 1974 in the minor leagues, he retired from baseball in March 1975. Writer Roger Angell chronicled Blass's travails in an essay in The New Yorker two months later. Blass stated in an interview that the sudden death of teammate and close friend Roberto Clemente in the offseason before he lost control was not a factor in his loss of control.

In Their Own Story

The night of the curse, the crowd at Three Rivers Stadium was already chanting before the first pitch. Blass stood in the bullpen, towel over his head, listening to the roar. He'd just thrown seven shutout innings the previous Tuesday, and the old story was already being told at the barbershops and the radio booths. He rolled his shoulder, felt the familiar tightness, and muttered the same line he'd said a hundred times: 'They're gonna hit me.' The catcher nodded. The manager nodded. Everyone nodded, because that's what you did when Steve Blass was about to pitch. He walked to the mound, set his feet, and for three innings the curse held its breath. Then a fly ball to left, a grounder to third, a strikeout. The stadium exhaled. Blass pointed at the sky, grinned, and walked back to the dugout before the fourth inning was even over. The curse would wait. It always waited.

Reader's Guide

Blass was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960 and made his major league debut at age 22 in 1964, joining the team permanently in 1966. He won 18 games in 1968, including a 2.12 ERA with seven shutouts, both career highs, and won the NL Player of the Month award for September with a 5–1 record, 1.65 ERA, and 46 strikeouts. In 1969 he won 16 games with a career-high 147 strikeouts. From 1969 to 1972 he won 60 games, with a career-high 19 victories in 1972. 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. In the 1971 World Series, Blass pitched two complete game 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 behind teammate Roberto Clemente. In a ten-season major league career, Blass posted a 103–76 record with 896 strikeouts and a 3.63 ERA in 1,597.1 innings pitched, including 16 shutouts and 57 complete games.

Did You Know?

• Blass remains the last National League pitcher to throw a complete game in Game Seven of a World Series.
• His WAR of -3.9 in 1973 is not the worst of any pitcher in the modern era; several pitchers have had lower WAR seasons, e.g., Jack Nabors with -4.3 in 1916.
• Blass worked as a Pittsburgh-area salesman for Jostens in the late 1970s before joining the Pirates' broadcast team.
• He was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Charleston, West Virginia Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.
• Blass was announced as an inaugural member of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame on August 7, 2022.