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Steve Blass

Stephen Robert Blass

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 0", Weight: 165 lb.

Born: April 18, 1942 in Canaan, CT
High School: Housatonic HS (Housatonic, CT)
Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1960. (All Transactions)
Debut: May 10, 1964 (Age 22)
Team: Pirates 1964-1974

Final Game: April 17, 1974 (Age 31)
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Fine Details  · Last updated Feb 12, 2013 11:17AM
All-Time Rank (among pitchers): #816. Ned Garvin… #817. Chris Young… #818. Dick Tidrow… #819. STEVE BLASS… #820. Anibal Sanchez… #821. Bob Miller… #822. Kirk McCaskill… 

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards
1964 22 PIT NL 5 8 .385 4.04 24 13 2 3 1 0 104.2 107 52 47 9 45 5 67 1 0 10 458 87 1.452 9.2 0.8 3.9 5.8 1.49
1966 24 PIT NL 11 7 .611 3.87 34 25 1 1 0 0 155.2 173 80 67 12 46 1 76 2 0 9 662 92 1.407 10.0 0.7 2.7 4.4 1.65
1967 25 PIT NL 6 8 .429 3.55 32 16 2 2 0 0 126.2 126 65 50 12 47 7 72 2 0 3 541 94 1.366 9.0 0.9 3.3 5.1 1.53
1968 26 PIT NL 18 6 .750 2.12 33 31 3 12 7 0 220.1 191 64 52 13 57 5 132 4 0 7 885 137 1.126 7.8 0.5 2.3 5.4 2.32 MVP-22
1969 27 PIT NL 16 10 .615 4.46 38 32 4 9 0 2 210.0 207 119 104 21 86 3 147 6 2 5 907 78 1.395 8.9 0.9 3.7 6.3 1.71
1970 28 PIT NL 10 12 .455 3.52 31 31 0 6 1 0 196.2 187 92 77 14 73 8 120 5 1 2 824 111 1.322 8.6 0.6 3.3 5.5 1.64
1971 29 PIT NL 15 8 .652 2.85 33 33 0 12 5 0 240.0 226 81 76 16 68 8 136 2 0 4 996 121 1.225 8.5 0.6 2.6 5.1 2.00
1972 30 PIT NL 19 8 .704 2.49 33 32 0 11 2 0 249.2 227 80 69 18 84 8 117 4 1 6 1024 135 1.246 8.2 0.6 3.0 4.2 1.39 AS,CYA-2,MVP-18
1973 31 PIT NL 3 9 .250 9.85 23 18 1 1 0 0 88.2 109 98 97 11 84 4 27 12 0 9 455 36 2.177 11.1 1.1 8.5 2.7 0.32
1974 32 PIT NL 0 0 9.00 1 0 1 0 0 0 5.0 5 8 5 2 7 0 2 0 0 1 28 42 2.400 9.0 3.6 12.6 3.6 0.29
10 Yrs 103 76 .575 3.63 282 231 14 57 16 2 1597.1 1558 739 644 128 597 49 896 38 4 56 6780 95 1.349 8.8 0.7 3.4 5.0 1.50
162 Game Avg. 14 10 .575 3.63 37 31 2 8 2 0 212 207 98 85 17 79 6 119 5 1 7 899 95 1.349 8.8 0.7 3.4 5.0 1.50

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Awards
1964 22 PIT NL 104.2 24 13 52 4.47 4.12 -0.14 0.01 99.3 4.24 -4 -0.4 .8 -0.1 0.5 8 .483 .497
1966 24 PIT NL 155.2 34 25 80 4.63 3.99 0.07 0.05 99.3 3.94 -14 -1.5 1.6 -0.1 -0.2 4 .456 .491
1967 25 PIT NL 126.2 32 16 65 4.62 3.86 -0.02 -0.00 99.8 3.87 -12 -1.4 1.1 -0.1 -0.3 2 .458 .492
1968 26 PIT NL 220.1 33 31 64 2.61 3.32 0.35 0.05 97.4 2.94 5 0.7 .2 -0.1 2.5 27 .520 .504 MVP-22
1969 27 PIT NL 210.0 38 32 119 5.10 3.95 -0.01 0.05 97.1 3.89 -30 -3.1 2.2 -0.2 -1.4 -6 .418 .481
1970 28 PIT NL 196.2 31 31 92 4.21 4.51 0.20 0.07 97.3 4.26 -2 -0.2 -0.1 1.3 21 .495 .499
1971 29 PIT NL 240.0 33 33 81 3.04 3.76 0.09 0.06 100.2 3.73 16 1.9 -0.1 3.7 39 .559 .512
1972 30 PIT NL 249.2 33 32 80 2.88 3.76 0.11 0.06 97.0 3.60 17 2.0 .2 -0.2 3.8 40 .561 .512 AS,CYA-2,MVP-18
1973 31 PIT NL 88.2 23 18 98 9.95 4.04 -0.13 0.07 98.5 4.18 -57 -5.0 .2 0.2 -4.1 -49 .285 .469
1974 32 PIT NL 5.0 1 0 8 14.40 3.95 -0.08 -0.32 110.0 4.08 -6 -0.4 .1 0.2 -0.2 -5 .136 .498
10 Seasons 1597.1 282 231 739 4.16 3.89 0.09 0.05 98.3 3.78 -86 -7.3 1.1 -0.7 5.6 82 .474 .496

Postseason Pitching

Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
1971 29 PIT NL NLCS W SFG 0 1 .000 11.57 2 2 0 0 0 0 7.0 14 10 9 4 2 0 11 0 0 0 38 2.286 18.0 5.1 2.6 14.1 5.50
1971 29 PIT NL WS W BAL 2 0 1.000 1.00 2 2 0 2 0 0 18.0 7 2 2 1 4 0 13 0 0 0 64 0.611 3.5 0.5 2.0 6.5 3.25
1972 30 PIT NL NLCS L CIN 1 0 1.000 1.72 2 2 0 0 0 0 15.2 12 3 3 2 6 0 5 0 0 0 65 1.149 6.9 1.1 3.4 2.9 0.83
2 Yrs (3 Series) 3 1 .750 3.10 6 6 0 2 0 0 40.2 33 15 14 7 12 0 29 0 0 0 167 1.107 7.3 1.5 2.7 6.4 2.42
2 NLCS 1 1 .500 4.76 4 4 0 0 0 0 22.2 26 13 12 6 8 0 16 0 0 0 103 1.500 10.3 2.4 3.2 6.4 2.00
1 WS 2 0 1.000 1.00 2 2 0 2 0 0 18.0 7 2 2 1 4 0 13 0 0 0 64 0.611 3.5 0.5 2.0 6.5 3.25

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1964 22 PIT NL 24 34 30 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 13 .067 .125 .067 .192 -44 2 1 0 2 0 0 1
1966 24 PIT NL 34 54 52 3 12 1 0 0 6 0 0 0 15 .231 .231 .250 .481 34 13 0 0 2 0 0 1
1967 25 PIT NL 32 42 39 2 5 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 12 .128 .150 .128 .278 -19 5 0 0 2 0 0 1
1968 26 PIT NL 35 88 80 7 11 1 0 0 8 0 0 2 30 .138 .155 .150 .305 -7 12 0 0 4 2 0 1/7 MVP-22
1969 27 PIT NL 44 87 84 12 21 0 2 1 9 0 0 1 16 .250 .259 .333 .592 67 28 2 0 2 0 0 1
1970 28 PIT NL 32 76 70 3 8 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 15 .114 .137 .129 .266 -27 9 2 0 3 1 0 1
1971 29 PIT NL 34 92 83 5 10 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 15 .120 .131 .145 .276 -22 12 0 0 8 0 0 1
1972 30 PIT NL 35 96 82 8 15 2 0 0 3 0 0 2 22 .183 .202 .207 .410 18 17 1 0 12 0 0 1 AS,CYA-2,MVP-18
1973 31 PIT NL 24 29 24 2 10 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 .417 .417 .500 .917 156 12 0 0 5 0 0 1
1974 32 PIT NL 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0 /1
10 Yrs 295 600 546 42 94 7 3 1 37 0 0 11 140 .172 .188 .201 .389 11 110 6 0 40 3 0
162 Game Avg. 162 329 300 23 52 4 2 1 20 0 0 6 77 .172 .188 .201 .389 11 60 3 0 22 2 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg G PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR waaWL% 162WL% oWAR dWAR oRAR Salary Pos Awards
1964 22 PIT NL 24 34 -5 0 -0 0 4 -2 -0.2 1 -0 -0.2 .493 .499 -0.2 0.0 -0 1
1966 24 PIT NL 34 54 -5 -0 0 0 6 1 0.1 2 3 0.1 .503 .501 0.1 0.0 3 1
1967 25 PIT NL 32 42 -6 0 0 0 5 -1 -0.1 1 1 -0.1 .497 .499 -0.1 0.0 1 1
1968 26 PIT NL 35 88 -10 -1 0 0 9 -1 -0.1 3 2 -0.1 .495 .499 -0.2 0.0 2 1/7 MVP-22
1969 27 PIT NL 44 87 -4 0 0 0 10 7 0.8 3 10 0.8 .517 .505 0.7 0.0 10 1
1970 28 PIT NL 32 76 -12 -0 0 0 9 -4 -0.4 2 -2 -0.4 .488 .498 -0.4 0.0 -2 1
1971 29 PIT NL 34 92 -14 0 0 0 10 -4 -0.4 3 -1 -0.4 .487 .497 -0.4 0.0 -1 1
1972 30 PIT NL 35 96 -8 0 0 0 10 3 0.3 3 6 0.3 .509 .502 0.3 0.0 6 1 AS,CYA-2,MVP-18
1973 31 PIT NL 24 29 2 0 0 0 3 5 0.5 1 6 0.5 .523 .503 0.5 0.0 6 1
1974 32 PIT NL 1 2 -0 0 0 0 0 -0 -0.0 0 -0 0.0 .466 .500 0.0 0.0 -0 /1
10 Seasons 295 600 -62 -0 1 0 65 4 0.6 19 23 0.5 .501 .500 0.3 0.2 23

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
1971 29 PIT NL NLCS SFG W 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 1 0 0
1971 29 PIT NL WS BAL W 2 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
1972 30 PIT NL NLCS CIN L 2 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 Yrs (3 Series) 6 15 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 1 0 1 0 0
2 NLCS 4 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 1 0 1 0 0
1 WS 2 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
1964 PIT NL 22 P 24 13 3 104.2 30 10 18 2 2 .933 2.41 1.17 .953 2.14 2.13 5 3 38% 40% 0
1966 PIT NL 24 P 34 25 1 155.2 24 6 15 3 1 .875 1.21 0.62 .947 1.96 1.96 6 4 40% 40% 0
1967 PIT NL 25 P 32 16 2 126.2 31 7 23 1 2 .968 2.13 0.94 .960 2.00 2.00 4 5 56% 40% 0
1968 PIT NL 26 P 33 31 12 220.1 49 22 27 0 1 1.000 2.00 1.48 .958 2.01 2.02 5 5 50% 40% 0 MVP-22
1968 PIT NL 26 LF 1 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 1.60 MVP-22
1968 PIT NL 26 OF 1 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 2.00 MVP-22
1969 PIT NL 27 P 38 32 9 210.0 64 21 41 2 3 .969 2.66 1.63 .958 1.95 1.94 4 4 50% 40% 2
1970 PIT NL 28 P 31 31 6 196.2 49 21 26 2 1 .959 2.15 1.52 .951 1.85 1.84 1 3 75% 33% 3
1971 PIT NL 29 P 33 33 12 240.0 67 27 36 4 2 .940 2.36 1.91 .954 1.90 1.90 4 7 64% 35% 6
1972 PIT NL 30 P 33 32 11 249.2 63 15 46 2 6 .968 2.20 1.85 .950 1.78 1.78 5 8 62% 37% 6 AS,CYA-2,MVP-18
1973 PIT NL 31 P 23 18 1 88.2 26 8 18 0 1 1.000 2.64 1.13 .950 1.88 1.88 3 6 67% 36% 2
1974 PIT NL 32 P 1 0 0 5.0 1 0 1 0 0 1.000 1.80 1.00 .940 1.80 1.90 0 0 0
10 Seasons P 282 231 57 1597.1 404 137 251 16 19 .960 2.19 1.38 .954 1.93 1.93 37 45 55% 38% 19
1 Season LF 1 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 1.60
1 Season OF 1 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 2.00
10 Seasons TOT 283 231 57 1597.2 404 137 251 16 19 .960 2.19 1.37 .954 1.93 1.93 37 45 55% 38% 19
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1945 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1945 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1916 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1945 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

Hall of Fame
1980 BBWAA ( 0.5%)

All-Star Games
1972 *

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1968 NL (22, 1%)
1972 NL (18, 3%)
0.04 Career Shares (1193rd)

Cy Young (yr lg (rk, shr))
1972 NL (2, 28%)
0.29 Career Shares (140th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1968 NL  2.12 (5th)
1972 NL  2.49 (6th)

Wins s c a p y
1968 NL  18 (7th)
1972 NL  19 (5th)

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1966 NL  .611 (9th)
1968 NL  .750 (1st)
1971 NL  .652 (7th)
1972 NL  .704 (4th)
Career  .575 (202nd)

Shutouts s c a p y
1968 NL  7 (3rd)
1971 NL  5 (1st)

Home Runs s c a p y
1972 NL  18 (10th)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1972 NL  84 (9th)

Hits s c a p y
1972 NL  227 (7th)

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
1970 NL  0.641 (9th)

Earned Runs s c a p y
1969 NL  104 (8th)

Wild Pitches s c a p y
1964 NL  10 (8th)
1966 NL  9 (9th)

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1973 NL  12 (1st)

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1968 NL  137 (6th)
1972 NL  135 (7th)

Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y
1968 NL  18 (8th)
1971 NL  18 (8th)
1972 NL  24 (6th)

Adj. Pitching Wins s c a p y
1968 NL  2.1 (8th)
1971 NL  2.0 (8th)
1972 NL  2.7 (6th)

Base-Out Runs Saved (RE24)† s c a p y
1968 NL  20.82 (7th)
1971 NL  23.52 (7th)
1972 NL  26.05 (6th)

Win Probability Added (WPA)† s c a p y
1968 NL  2.9 (7th)

Sit. Wins Saved (WPA/LI)† s c a p y
1968 NL  1.9 (9th)
1971 NL  1.9 (8th)

Base-Out Wins Saved (REW)† s c a p y
1968 NL  2.5 (7th)
1971 NL  2.7 (7th)
1972 NL  3.0 (6th)

Sacrifice Hits s c a p y
1972 NL  12 (6th)

Putouts as P s c a p y
1969 NL  21 (3rd)
1971 NL  27 (4th)

Errors Committed as P s c a p y
1971 NL  4 (5th)

Range Factor/Game as P s c a p y
1971 NL  1.91 (4th)
1972 NL  1.85 (5th)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1968 NL  1.000 (1st)

             

† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1945-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 4 (467), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 30 (793), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 33 (410), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 13 (620), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Starting Pitcher (890th), 6.1 career WAR/10.7 7yr-peak WAR/8.4 JAWS
Average HOF P (out of 57) = 68.1 career WAR/47.7 7yr-peak WAR/57.9 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Eric Show (965)
  2. Pete Vuckovich (965)
  3. Tex Carleton (964)
  4. Hank Borowy (960)
  5. Johnny Morrison (958)
  6. George Pipgras (954)
  7. Joey Jay (954)
  8. Jim O'Toole (953)
  9. Bob Walk (950)
  10. Bill Walker (948)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Eddie Stack (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Dennis Leonard (986)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Vern Ruhle (988)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Pat Malone (980)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Jim Bunning (980) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Dave Goltz (982)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Dave Goltz (978)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Pat Malone (960)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. John Denny (966)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. Dave Stewart (967)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer
Similar Batters 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. John Denny (988)
  2. Johnny Morrison (987)
  3. Dutch Leonard (986)
  4. George Pipgras (986)
  5. Matt Morris (984)
  6. Nick Altrock (983)
  7. Bill Hallahan (982)
  8. Phil Douglas (981)
  9. Carl Weilman (980)
  10. Doc McJames (980)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Roy Oswalt (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Howie Pollet (992)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Dutch Leonard (989)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

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Viewed 34,583 times through February 12, 2013.
Name and misspellings: Stephen Robert Steve Blass

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