He could do Manny Sanguillen. Blass knew that his case was desperate. You get locked in, you see yourself doing things before they happen. Blass then returned to Bradenton and worked for several days with the Pirates minor-league pitching coach, Larry Sherry, on some pitching mechanics. He always found something to hold on toa couple of good pitches that day, some little thing he had noticed. Lamb was 67 and had been in the hospital a week or . The subject of the picture, of course, is classicalthe celebration of the last out of the seventh game of the World Series. Reconnect with Karen Lamb (Blass) by joining our alumni site today. He finished the 1973 season with one of the worst records ever compiled by a major league pitcherwon three, lost nine, a 9.81 earned run average, 84 walks in 89 innings . Ive got to work very carefully to him, because when hes hot hes capable of hitting it out anytime., Well, the sliders only been fair today. 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. Id like to work on that a couple of times first, because its early and he swings so well. He pitched on opening day, against the Cards, but threw poorly and was relieved, although the Pirates eventually won the game. He was never a blazer. 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. Douglas D Blass and Randall Cheney are also associated with this address. Blass spent four days with him, and then rejoined the Pirates, this time as a batting-practice pitcher. $0.99. I think he felt he didnt need any of thatthat at any moment hed be back where he was, the Blass of old, and that it all was up to him to make that happen.. . How much did Steve Blass weigh when playing? He walked 84 batters . Karen M Lamb. He says he hated the idea of hitting and possibly sidelining one of his teammates, but he is convinced that this anxiety was the result of his control problems rather than the cause. or. The Blasses place in Falls Village included an old barn with an interestingly angled roof, against which young Steve Blass played hundreds of one-man games (his four brothers and sisters were considerably younger) with a tennis ball. Other elite athletes have experienced the same loss of ability. Explore Steve Blass net worth, bio, age, height, family, wiki, birthday, career, salary [Last Update 2021]! Ive had my own ideas about Steves pitching, about the mystery, but they havent made much difference. It must have been hell for him, Dave Giusti says. He worked the count to 32 on Carlos May, and then threw the next pitch behind him. Her age is 69. Terry allegedly cheated on his own wife of three years with the girlfriend of his teammate Wayne Bridge, the French underwear model named Vanessa Perroncel, also the mother of Bridge's . What pleased him most that year was his consistency. Where was Steve Blass born? I tried to imagine what it felt like for him not to be down in the dugout. I had all kinds of games, with different, very complicated ground rules, he said. Brooke Lamb, 42 Karen Prosser Ann Patricia Hampton Colleen, 65 Jerry Grice, 78 Cindy Grice, 73 Karen Walliker, 72. has lived in Boring, OR Sandy, OR Gresham, OR Boise, ID 3. Steve Blass weighed 165 lbs (74 kg) when playing. It was his second game of the spring as a White Sox coach, and between innings one of the young outfielders said to him, Hey, Mr. Blass, how come youre not playing with the Pirates at Three Rivers today?, Well, Blass said equably, Im not in baseball anymore., Twilight and the end of the game approached at about the same speed, and I kept losing track of the count on the batters. " Down The Drain " is an unusual sports story. That year, in his first outing Blass pitched five scoreless innings in relief against the Braves, facing, among others, Hank Aaron. [1] [2] He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology 's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999). He and Karen rented an apartment in Charleston, and the whole family moved down when the school year ended; David and Chris enjoyed the informal atmosphere around the ballpark, where they were permitted to shag flies in batting practice. . aren is a top-producing agent at Beacham and Company Realtors and has been selling . My overriding philosophy is to have a regard for others, he once told me. Blass agreed. Wed stop at an all-night restaurant every now and then, and Id walk in with a two-day beard and my old Charleston Charlies uniform on, looking like go-to-hell, Blass said. He struck out some players with his fastball. I didnt know how to solve my problem, but I knew I had to solve it. Yes, you know that exact sequence has happened to Perez many times, Blass said. In his first start, against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, he pitched against Don Drysdale and won, 42. Exploring a pitching career that began with a complete-game victory over Hall of Famer Don Drysdale in 1964 and ended when he could no longer control his pitches, this book details the life of Pittsburgh Pirates great, Steve Blass. Somehow, he didnt show any emotion at all. Stephen is related to Emily Harwood White and Vicki Ann Blass as well as 1 additional person. At one point, he leaned forward a little and peered into the Pirate dugout and murmured, Is Dock Ellis over in his regular corner there?, but for the most part he kept his eyes on the field. He is remarkably open to all kinds of people, but I think he has closed his mind to his inner self. Prior to this season, Steve announced it . In this segment he reminisces about . 2 2. What a player is thinking is about eighty per cent of it. Steves humor in the clubhouse was unmatched, relief pitcher Dave Giusti said. He suddenly laughed. After that last game, Baltimore manager Earl Weaver said, Clemente was great, all right, but if it hadnt been for Mr. Blass, we might be popping the corks right now.. First of all, Im going to try to keep him off base if I can, because they have so many tough hitters coming up. His hunched, airborne posture makes him look like a man who has just made a running jump over a sizable objecta kitchen table, say. During his decline, he was plainly unable to throw the fastball effectively to battersespecially to Pirate batters in practice. At another point, he decided to throw every single day in the bullpen, to see if he could recapture his groove All it did was to get me very, very tired, Blass told me. Well, Ill start him out with a good, tough fastball outside. There is a further marvela touch of pure fortunein the background, where a spectator in dark glasses, wearing a dark suit, has risen from his seat in the grandstand and is lifting his arms in triumph. Steve Blass played 10 . HARTFORD, Conn. Steve Blass had just pitched the game of his life, of any pitcher's life, beating the Orioles, 2-1, in Game 7 of the World Series. I guess I dont have a tendency to go into things in much depth. One of the teams always had to be the Indians. Steve Blass was with the team through this stretch, but he took no part in the campaign, and by now he was almost silent in the clubhouse. . It was a horrendous disappointment for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans, for which no blame at all could be attached to Blass. Most of the action, or inaction, took place around home plate, since there was not much bat-and-ball contact, but there was shrill non-stop piping of encouragement from the fielders, and disappointed batters were complimented on their overswings by a small, chilly assemblage of mothers, coaches, and dads. He says now that he was very interested in Dr. Harrisons theories but that they just didnt seem to help him much. Los Angeles. Im not a student of pitching and Im not a psychologist. I should know., The game rushed along, as games always do when Gibson is pitching. But it never happenedBlass saw to it that it didnt. 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. Blass is a modest man, both in temperament and in background, and his success and fame were quite sudden and, to some degree, unexpected. The residential address for Karen is 2711 Lee Av, Early, IA 50535. Tony Bartirome (He is forty-three years old, dark-haired, extremely neat in appearance. Because of Steve, the clubhouse was never completely silent, even after a loss. Another Pirate said, Steve was about ninety per cent of the good feeling on this club. Pretty soon youre trying so hard that you cant function., I ventured to repeat Nellie Kings guesses about the mystery to Steve Blass and asked him what he thought. They have also lived in Pittsburgh, PA. Karen is related to Meghan Chandler Blass and Chris F Blass as well as 2 additional people. We sure missed it., For the final three innings of the game, Blass and I moved upstairs to general manager Joe Browns box. Following his rousing success in 1972, Blass was inexplicably bad in 1973. Well, the day before that first workout I woke up at four-thirty in the morning. But it was talking that did it, and my point is that Steve cant talk to people that way. Davey Johnson singled, scoring another run. None of Blasss appearances during the rest of the 73 season were as dreadful as the Atlanta game, but none of them were truly successful. When Ted Simmons stood in for the visitors, Blass said, Hes always hit me pretty good. Uncle and Aunt, Larry and Karen (Erickson) Stoller, Uncle Chris Blass, Aunt Coleen Blass, Cousins Lyndsi . He wont want to take the bat out of Benchs hands. He released another cloud of cigar smoke, thinking hard. Blasss best friends in baseball are Tony Bartirome, Dave Giusti, and Nelson King (who, along with Bob Prince, is part of the highly regarded radio-and-television team that covers the Pirate games). Earlier in the week of my visit, he had accepted a promising job with Jostens, Inc., a large jewelry concern that makes, among other things, World Series rings and high-school graduation rings, and he would go to work for them shortly as a travelling representative in the Pittsburgh area. He covered it all up. 1970 Topps Set Break Steve Blass #396 NM-MT or BETTER. Los Angeles, CA 90010. The remaining pieces of evidence (if, indeed, they have any part in the mystery) have been recounted here. My first big-league autograph was Hank Majeski., Blass grew up into an athletea good sandlot football player, a second-team All-State Class B basketball star, but most of all a pitcher, like his father. His wife is Karen Lamb (5 October 1963 - present) ( 2 children) Steve Blass Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. This is my debut book as an author. Stephen Robert Blass (born April 18, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports color commentator. Karencita Blass. I knew I wasnt capable of going in there, he said. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Karen Blass (Limited edition) See Photos. Age 35 / Jul 1986. Then I looked out a few minutes later, and there was a whole bunch of them yelling and rolling around on the grass with him, like puppies. Blass made the trip mostly because he had promised Maury Wills, who is now a baserunning consultant to several teams, that he would not quit the game until he had seen Mr. Ellen. He and Clemente had not been particularly close, but Blass was among the members of the team who flew at once to Puerto Rico for the funeral services, where Blass delivered a eulogy in behalf of the club. Then, at some point, I turned the corner. Of course, there was a hell of a lot less of that from him in the last couple of years. And so it went. Thats just to set up another slider outside., Were ahead one and two nowright? Blass said. close to or above the 4.00 level will always be brought up by management. I feel real bad about it. He was always the same, day after day. The players and coaches and fans I talked to about Steve Blass brought up a few other names, but then they quickly realized that the cases were not really the same. He came home feeling a little hopeful (he was almost living on such minimal nourishments), but when he forced himself to think about it he had to admit that he had been too tense to throw the fastball much, even against rookies. He shortens up and then chases the pitch up here., He was animated. I remember that after the 71 Series he said, I didnt think I was as good as this. He seemed truly surprised at what hed done. He didnt quite make the big club when training ended in the spring, and was sent down to the Pirates Triple A club in Columbus, but the call came three weeks later. Once you start maintaining a plateau, youve got to be absolutely sure what your goals are.. 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. I was afraid of embarrassing myself again, and letting down the club., On September 6th, the Pirate front office announced that Danny Murtaugh, who had served two previous terms as the Pirates manager, was replacing Bill Virdon at the helm; the Pirates were caught up in a close, four-team division race, and it was felt that Murtaughs experience might bring them home. Which of the two, I keep wondering, was happier that afternoon about the Pirates championship and his part in it? I have a varied background spanning social impact assessment, international and community development, environmental science and environmental law and policy which has provided me with a range of experience working on development projects both within Australia and internationally including countries such as Bangladesh, Colombia, Vietnam and China. There is rarely an explanation for this, whether the slump has lasted for two games or a dozen, and managers and coaches, when pressed for one, will usually mutter that pitching is a delicate thing, oras if it explained anythinghe got back in the groove.. Not just the stars but all the guys on the bench, like George Strickland and Wally Westlake and Hank Majeski and the backup third baseman, Rudy Regalado. The other, more serious theories are sometimes presented alone, sometimes in conjunction with others. I dont know, she said. I took some of these hard questions to Blasss colleagues. Karen L Blass Phone Number (412) 835-2786 Landline phone by Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc, four persons associated Ads by BeenVerified Background Report Click here to view details Persons Associated with Address 1756 Quigg Dr Stephen R Blass Details (412) 835-2786 Kelly M Fabian Details Age ~41 (412) 854-1986 Todd E Fabian Details Age ~42 People named Karen Blass. In the old days, he used to get mad at himself after a bad showing, and sometimes he threw things around in the clubhouse. He has been married to Karen Lamb since October 5, 1963. They have two children. The Blass family room was trophied and comfortable. 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. Sustaining this kind of control over a stretch of, say, one hundred and thirty pitches in a seven- or eight-inning appearance places such excruciating demands on a hurlers body and psyche that even the most successful pitchers regularly have games when they simply cant get the job done. It gets much worse when you have to repeat it: We know youre great. I dont think Ill ever forget it. Thats a good feeling. Karen Blass, 79. Or wont. Im not bitter about this. 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. At the beginning of the 1973 season, Steve Blass had a lifetime earned-run average of 3.25 and was averaging 1.9 walks per game. 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. Joe Brown had told Blass that the end of the line might be approaching. 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. (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. [1] I went to another ballgame with Steve Blass on the night after the Little League affairthis time at Three Rivers Stadium, where the Pirates were meeting the Cardinals. The fastball is a great healer. Perez had shortened up on the bat a little, but he took the pitch. Rose, I decided, didnt offer. In Steve Blass's first big league start he outdueled future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, pictured above. Some pitching mechanics were discussed and worked on: Blass was sometimes dropping his elbow as he threw; often he seemed to be hurrying his motion, so that his arm was not in synchronization with his body; perhaps he had exaggerated his peculiar swoop toward first base and thus was losing his power. 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. Here are pictures from November 2022 show. Steve Blass stayed home last winter. Tony Bartirome, the Pirate trainer, who is a close friend of Steves, thought he was pitching as well as he ever had. Suddenly, a New York cop remembered a long-ago murder. People in the sections near us kept calling and waving to him. 1 bid. On any level, baseball is a tough game if it isnt really fun, Blass said. 4929 Wilshire Boulevard. Last year, Ferguson Jenkins, of the Texas Rangers, gave up only forty-five walks in three hundred and twenty-eight innings pitched, or an average of 1.19 per 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. Find your friends on Facebook. . Karen Lamb March 18, 1948 - December 7, 2020 Karen Lamb was born on March 18, 1948 and passed away on December 7, 2020 and is under the care of Casdorph & Curry Funeral Home. His military honors include Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal (2), Army . Clemente, at last the recipient of the kind of national attention he had always deserved but had rarely been given for his years of brilliant play, remained erect and removed, regarding the swarming photographers with a haughty, incandescent pride. Sunday will be Steve Blass' day, too, even if there's not a pregame ceremony like Saturday. (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. He was, in short, an extremely successful and useful big-league pitcher, and was understandably enjoying his work. Steve Lamb Steve Burt Lamb Stave Ann B Jill Lamb S Afmd Jill A Blackburn. The frustrating, bewildering part of it all was that while working alone with a catcher Blass continued to throw as well as he ever had; his fastball was alive, and his slider and curve shaved the corners of the plate. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK19. His two Series victories, by contrast, were momentous by any standardand, indeed, were among the very best pitching performances of his entire seven years in the majors. He tried to condense his 60 years with the Pirates into a form that would fit on that one sheet, but there were too many people to acknowledge and far too many stories to tell. 1:52. Karen Blass #176481. 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. Steve Blass was born on April 18, 1942 in Canaan, Connecticut, USA. While trying for his twentieth victory in his last start in 1972, he was hit on the point of the elbow of his pitching arm by a line drive struck by the Mets John Milner; he had to leave the game, but a few days later he pitched that first playoff game for the Pirates and won it handily. Pretty good inning, I said. . As you can imagine, theres very little good work or improvement you can do under those circumstances.. Invariably, they asked him how much money he was earning as a player; then they asked if he thought he was worth it. The phone numbers for her are (712) 273-5345 (Frontier Communications of Iowa, Inc), (712) 320-3324 (United States Cellular Corp.Frontier Communications of Iowa, Inc). Write Karen Blass' 1st recommendation. William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 - June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer. 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. Finally, of course, one must accept the possibility that a great many players may have suffered exactly the same sort of falling off as Blass for exactly the same reasons (whatever they may be) but were able to solve the problem and continue their athletic careers. I dont think anybody will ever understand his decline. We are no longer at a game. Every accomplishment, every stage of the gameyou have no idea how much he loved it, how he enjoyed the game.. Bio gossipy. The word on him among the other clubs in his league was something like: Good but not overpowering stuff, excellent slider, good curve, good changeup curve. 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. ) On my last morning with Steve Blass, we sat in his family room and played an imaginary ballgame togetherhalf an inning of baseball. 9 books | 63 friends Ann-See Yeoh. Last year, I went through something like Steves crisis. Anyone who takes the trouble to write a man who is suffering deserves to be thanked, he told me. Joe Morgan is strictly a fastball hitter, so I want to throw him a bad fastball to start him off, he said. PITTSBURGH -- Steve Blass sat in the press conference room at PNC Park on Tuesday morning with a piece of paper in front of him. View the profiles of people named Karen Lamb on Facebook. (202) 225-7084. 64 books | 59 friends Michele Neeson. He could do Robert Kennedy. Then, unexpectedly, the slump endsmost of the time, that isand he is back where he was: a winning pitcher. He became smug and was no longer hungry. 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. The Blasses and I walked slowly along together over the thick new grass, toting gloves and helmets and Karens fold-up lawn chair, and at the parking lot the party divided into two carsKaren and the boys homeward bound, and Steve Blass and I off to a nearby shopping center to order one large cheese-and-peppers-and-sausage victory pizza, to go. Blass once told me that there were at least seventeen theories about the reason for his failure. He was struck on the right forearm by a ball hit by Joe Torre in 1970, and spent a month on the disabled list. Perez is not a good high, hard fastball hitter, Blass said. Hes really developed as a hitter. Then there was an error by Richie Hebner, at third, on a grounder hit by Ken Reitz, and Blass said, Did you notice the batter take that big swing and then hit it off his hands? 0:56. He was the son of a plumber. 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. 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. He won a World Series title in 1971, earned an All-Star selection the following season and retired from the diamond a few . California Secretary of State. On a team that played close to .500 ball, Blass stood out as one of its prime stars. Blass, in any case, celebrated the Pirates championship more exuberantly than Clemente, exchanging hugs and shouts with his teammates, alternately smoking a cigar and swigging from a champagne bottle. Join Facebook to connect with Karen Lamb and others you may know. It was the swing that put Richie back on his heels like that. Later on, Richie Zisk hit a homer off Gibson, on a three-and-two count, and Blass murmured, The high slider is one of the hittable pitches when it isnt just right. Him much get locked in, you see yourself doing things before they happen tried to imagine it... Must have been recounted here his work it isnt really fun, Blass said York cop remembered long-ago... User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights good on! Military honors include Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Air Medal, Air Medal, Army Medal... Of baseball to.500 ball, Blass said trouble to write a who! 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