Steve Blass Hangs Up The Microphone This Weekend

LARRY RICHERT AND JOHN SHUMWAY

https://kdkaradio.radio.com/blogs/larry-richert-and-john-shumway/steve-blass-end-era

September 27, 2019

PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - An era truly comes to an end this weekend at PNC Park. Steve Blass, a man who has been with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 60 years is retiring, well for the most part.

The longtime color analyst announced at the beginning of the season that 2019 would be his last behind the microphone.

From winning the World Series in 1971 to dropping treats down from the press box on Sundays, Blass has been at the forefront of what is fun about baseball.

For years Blass has joined Larry and John on KDKA Radio every Friday during the season to recap the week and look at the week ahead, but this visit was different, this was the last one.

Blass says old friends from his home state of Connecticut have been calling and texting (even though he doesn’t understand the technology), and everyone he has run into has given him something, mainly cigars.

“Even the guys that work security up the press box area gave me some cigars and they sent home a dozen roses for Karen,” said Blass. “I mean it’s just coming from everywhere and it’s been fabulous, I mean, my goodness!”

“A couple from Ellwood City made this huge, huge quilt all kinds of renderings and pictures of playing days and Pirate logos and everything, I mean just a work of love,” said Blass. “And I said what are you going to do with it, and they said, ‘well it’s yours’ and that kind of things has just been an ongoing things for the last 10 days, two weeks.”

Blass’ career will be honored on Saturday night and he know it will be an emotional evening.

The Pirates have also set up a voice mail box for those that want to say thank you for Blass.

That number is 412-325-4660.

When asked what he is going to do with all of his free time, Blass responded “whatever I want to!” But honestly Blass says he is going to spend time catching up with his wife and family and plans to spend the entire month of October golfing.

While Steve Blass night is Saturday he will still be there on Sunday for the entire game of the season.

“I’m not even going to keep a score card, I’m just going to be thanking people and trying to let people in Pittsburgh know how much all this has meant to me and our family, the way we were welcomed here in this city, a lot of years ago when we didn’t know much about it and I’ve never lost track of that.”

One of the things Blass is going to be missed for are his thousands of baseball stories and Greg Brown, the voice of the Pirates, told Larry and John Thursday he’s heard them all.

“I tell Greg Brown and I tell everybody when I speak when they ask me why I’m retiring, I (say) because if I hear another ‘clear the deck, cannonball coming, I’m going to kill myself,” Blass said jokingly.

Blass says Brown is his best friend and a lot of Pittsburgh feels like they’re losing a good friend but Blass has said that he is still going to be around the organization, you just won’t hear him on the microphone anymore.

On a personal note, we’ll miss talking to Steve every week and wish him nothing but the best in his retirement.

Related: Time To Appreciate Everything Steve Blass Has Given To Pirates Fans

Pirates legend Steve Blass reflects on his career, the end and what’s ahead

By Jason Mackey
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/09/19/pittsburgh-pirates-broadcaster-steve-blass-retirement/stories/201909190009
September 19, 2019

History is littered with famous cigar smokers, from Mark Twain to Winston Churchill to George Burns. It was actually Burns, the ageless and quick-witted comedian, who delivered the money line, “If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.” Burns died at the age of 100 and was buried with three of his favorite cigars.

Neither cigar smoking nor longevity is lost on Pirates legend Steve Blass, whose own charmed life has been littered with stogie stories. Like the time Blass, shortly after helping the Pirates win the 1971 World Series, wound up touring the General Cigar Company's New York City offices. Or 15 years ago, when Blass thought he was ready to retire, told one of his best friends, Greg Brown, over a cigar, then changed his mind weeks later.

That’s why, as Blass' (official) career in baseball burns closer and closer to the band, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sought out the 77-year-old Blass to talk about all he's experienced and what's ahead. That conversation, naturally, occurred over a cigar. A Rocky Patel, Steve’s choice.

Wearing a suit sans sport coat because he would appear on AT&T SportsNet later that night, Blass leaned over the railing and pointed across the Ohio River toward his apartment on Mount Washington. There was a "no smoking” sign to his left, but let’s be honest here: Who’s going to tell Steve Blass he can’t smoke at PNC Park?

Since the ballpark’s inaugural season in 2001, and for a couple years prior at Three Rivers Stadium, this has become their pregame tradition: A few hours before first pitch, on a cement landing a level down from the press box, Blass and Brown each light a cigar.

They sit on plastic chairs they stash near the fire escape. Occasionally, other members of the broadcast team show up, too, though Blass and Brown are the two constants.

It’s here, before pretty much every Pirates home game, that Blass will most often reflect — about baseball, life, whatever. “Freestyle conversations,” he called them, flicking an ash. On this day, the topic was a fairly obvious one: It’s September, only a couple weeks before he signs off. Was Blass thinking about that?

Yeah, absolutely, he admitted. How could he not? He’s somewhat nervous, too. But Blass is hoping some of his previous experience will help him figure it out.

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/09/19/pittsburgh-pirates-broadcaster-steve-blass-retirement/stories/201909190009

Steve Blass thanks Pirates, city of Pittsburgh for ’77-year party’

By Bob Bauder

https://triblive.com/sports/steve-blass-thanks-pirates-city-of-pittsburgh-for-77-year-party/

September 27, 2019

(Tribune-Review)

Steve Blass considers himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

After a 60-year career with the Pirates as a pitcher and broadcaster, Blass, 77, is retiring this weekend.

On Friday, Mayor Bill Peduto presented Blass with a proclamation declaring Saturday “Steve Blass Day” in the city.

Peduto said Blass exemplifies the best characteristics of Pittsburgh.

“Today we recognize something that’s been very much a part of the people who call Pittsburgh home today,” Peduto said. “That is the importance that you’ve played in our lives. Sixty years you’ve given of yourself through the Pittsburgh Pirates. You did it on the field. You did it off the field. You did it on the air.”

Blass, of Mt. Washington, vowed that he and wife, Karen, would remain city residents.

“People here have been so kind,” he said. “I’m going to spend the rest of the time on this Earth, if I’m able, when I run into people in the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas (thanking) them for caring about the Pittsburgh Pirates, caring about me on the mound and caring about our family. It doesn’t get any better than living in Pittsburgh for me.”

Blass pitched for the Pirates in the minor and major leagues from 1960 through 1974. He retired in 1975 with a pitching record of 103-76.

He is best known for pitching two complete games in the 1971 World Series, including the clinching seventh game over the Baltimore Orioles. He’s been a color commentator for the team since 1983.

He’s also known for an inexplicable loss of control which ended his career and became known as “Steve Blass Disease.”

“I almost consider my life to be a 77-year party,” Blass said. “My baseball record is 103 and 76, but I consider myself at age 77 to be 75 and two. I had 75 great years. I had two really rotten years. I think you learn as much or more about yourself when you’re struggling than when you’re sailing along.”

Blass appeared in Peduto’s City-County Building offices, Downtown, to receive the proclamation along with his son, Chris, fellow broadcaster Greg Brown and several Pirate representatives. He said he planned to spend time with his family and grandchildren, going to baseball games and enjoying “a ‘dog and a beer.”

He also plans to devote more time to his wife, whom he christened Saint Karen.

“I’m so proud to represent this city,” he said

Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bob at 412-765-2312,bbauder@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

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Felipe Vazquez of the Pirates Is Arrested on Child Sex Charges

By Kevin Draper and Tyler Kepner

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/sports/baseball/pittsburgh-pirates-felipe-vazquez-arrested.html
September 17, 2019


(Justin K. Allen/Getty Images)

Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Felipe Vazquez was arrested Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh and charged with three felonies, including statutory sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor, among other charges in Pennsylvania and Florida.

The authorities began investigating Vazquez, 28, last month after they “obtained information that Vazquez had a reported sexual relationship with a 13-year-old female victim” in Lee County, Fla., according to a news release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Vazquez was charged in Florida with computer pornography offenses, including solicitation of a child.

The girl is now 15 and had still been communicating with Vazquez by text message, according to the law enforcement department, which said in the release that Vazquez had sent text messages to the girl “suggesting they would meet for sex after his baseball season was over.”

Vazquez appeared in court in Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon via video link from a jail in Allegheny County, Pa., and was denied bail, with the judge saying she believed he was a flight risk, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Law enforcement agents in Pennsylvania and Florida obtained a warrant, and officials searched Vazquez’s residence in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, taking “several electronic devices” to examine, which could lead to more charges.

Later Tuesday, the authorities in Westmoreland County, Pa., charged Vazquez with the three felony counts, as well as a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person under 16. Vazquez was taken to jail in Allegheny County, and the authorities in Florida said he faced extradition to Lee County. It was not immediately clear whether the charges in Pennsylvania were related to Vazquez and the girl in Florida.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Pirates president, Frank Coonelly, said Major League Baseball’s commissioner’s office would put Vazquez on administrative leave, meaning he would be ineligible to play but still receive pay. “We take this matter, and these charges in particular, extremely seriously,” Coonelly said in the statement. Vazquez’s agent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vazquez, a Venezuelan who made his major league debut in 2015, has been one of baseball’s best relievers since joining the Pirates in a 2016 trade with the Washington Nationals, earning 86 saves for Pittsburgh and two All-Star selections.

Vazquez signed a four-year, $22 million contract extension early in 2018, with options that could keep him with the Pirates through 2023. He was known as Felipe Rivero when he signed the deal but soon legally changed his surname to Vazquez so he could have the same surname as his half-sister, Prescilla, who is also his agent. Vazquez reportedly lives with his half-sister in the off-season in Florida.

Last week, Vazquez initiated a clubhouse fight with another reliever, Kyle Crick, which led to season-ending surgery on Crick’s right index finger. Vazquez was fined $10,000 for the episode, which started when he objected to the music playing from Crick’s locker, The Post-Gazette reported.

What a four-day period for Pittsburgh sports

By Ron Cook
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/ron-cook/2019/09/17/felipe-vazquez-arrest-pirates-minkah-fitzpatrick-trade-ben-roethlisberger-injury/stories/201909180062
September 17, 2019


Felipe Vazquez (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

Let me begin by writing this quite comfortably:

There never has been a four-day news period in the history of Pittsburgh sports that rivals the one we just experienced.

Saturday, the magnificent 100-game college football series between Pitt and Penn State came to a controversial end with Pitt losing, at least in part, because of one of the worst coaching decisions of all time. Pat Narduzzi didn’t give his kids their best chance to win by electing to kick a field goal late in the game on fourth-and-1, down seven points.

Sunday, the Steelers lost a game to the Seattle Seahawks and lost franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a serious elbow injury. Roethlisberger will have surgery this week, his Hall of Fame career very much in jeopardy.

Monday, the Steelers traded their No. 1 draft choice in 2020 to the Miami Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. It is the first time they traded their top pick in 52 years, going back to the Bill Austin days. (Be thankful if you’ve forgotten them.)

And Tuesday, a story more horrific than any I can remember …

Pirates All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez was arrested on felony charges of soliciting a child for sexual purposes and giving obscene material to a minor. If he’s found guilty, the next mound we should see him on is on a prison yard. We can only hope.

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/ron-cook/2019/09/17/felipe-vazquez-arrest-pirates-minkah-fitzpatrick-trade-ben-roethlisberger-injury/stories/201909180062

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Firing of Mike Ryan simply makes no sense at all

By Cory Giger

http://www.altoonamirror.com/sports/altoona-curve/2019/09/firing-of-ryan-simply-makes-no-sense-at-all/

September 4, 2019

(Altoona Mirror)

This makes no sense whatsoever and is a totally disgraceful move by the Pirates organization, which has so many people who are bad at their jobs, yet they decided to scapegoat the wrong guy.

Curve manager Michael Ryan got fired Tuesday, and he was told the news by Bucs farm director Larry Broadway.

Ryan is better at his job than Broadway is at his.

So the wrong person got fired.

The decision apparently was made by GM Neal Huntington and assistant GM Kyle Stark.

Ryan is better at his job than Huntington and Stark are at theirs.

So the wrong person got fired.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle will still have a job next season.

Ryan is a better minor league manager than Hurdle is a big league manager.

So the wrong person got fired.

Hurdle is under contract through 2021. He’s safe. There’s no way Pirates ownership will fire a manager just to go away and still pay him for two years.

Huntington is under contract through 2021. He’s safe. Ditto the reasons above.

The Pirates are terrible this season — sporting a 60-78 record — and the front office needed someone to blame. So they picked the best manager in their minor league system, the best manager in Curve history and a fantastic human being who just so happens to be a western PA guy and who loves all things Pittsburgh — including the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins.

It’s just such a dumb move on so many levels by the Pirates to fire Ryan, if for no other reason than it makes them look absolutely awful.

Ryan wins. The Pirates lose. So yeah, go fire the guy who wins. That’s good PR.

This is not, by the way, a repeat of the infamous Matt Walbeck situation in 2010. Walbeck was an odd bird who was disliked by many players and defied the Pirates’ wishes in a lot of important ways, so the organization cut him loose a week after he led the Curve to the 2010 Eastern League title.

You won’t find anyone with bad words to say about Michael Ryan.

He is humble, has a great baseball mind and works his butt off.

He is beloved by the Curve front office staff and highly respected by Eastern League personnel.

He has acted in an honorable and professional way at every step during his three years with the Curve.

He was a wonderful representative of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a wonderful representative of the Altoona Curve. He is a very bright guy who gets the big picture, can explain the big picture of baseball — and things far more important than baseball — and he understands his role in the grand scheme of things as a minor league manager.

OK. So what the heck happened?

How does a guy that I and everyone I know in this industry have tremendous respect for, a guy who honestly felt like he actually might be promoted to the Pirates’ big league staff next season — or possibly offered a chance for the second time to manage in Triple-A next year — wind up getting fired?

There is always — ALWAYS — more to every story than meets the eye. The only people who know the truth here are the Pirates’ executives who made the call, and maybe someday they’ll bother to fully level with Ryan about why they did it.

Here’s the best answer I can give you, and it involves three words: The Pirate Way.

Here’s how I decipher The Pirate Way: It’s their way or the highway.

No in between.

No flexibility.

The organization has policies in place, and you’d better follow all of them. Or else.

Hey, every organization needs policies. Every company. You can’t just allow anything and everything. There have to be rules, standards, practices.

But there also needs to be some common sense when it comes to those policies.

This is where the Pirates fail. I’m not just talking about why they lose baseball games — although parallel connections can be made — but rather, they fail because the higher ups in the organization think the world is black and white, right or wrong. No middle ground. No gray area.

Huntington, Stark and Broadway preside over a cookie cutter organization that tries to stuff everyone into a predisposed way of doing things. They worry too much about minor leaguers all having to wear their pant legs up and not enough about whether their ridiculous pitching philosophy of having everyone pitch to contact even if they have unhittable stuff is why they failed miserably getting guys such as Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow to fully realize their potential.

Michael Ryan abided by the Pirates’ rules and won with their prospects, capturing two league championships. He developed them very well in Altoona, and he managed many of the players currently on the Pirates’ roster.

Yes, some of those players struggle with fundamentals in the big leagues. That, however, has more to do with the fact that the Pirates rush their guys through the minor leagues too quickly at times, when they could use more seasoning — first at high-A before coming to Altoona, then here before going to Triple-A.

Ryan has won with those guys in Double-A. He has done his job, extremely well. You simply will not find anyone who can say otherwise.

Did Ryan care too much about winning in the minors? Did he somehow sidestep the Pirates’ development philosophies for a win-at-all-cost approach?

Absolutely not.

Yes, Ryan wants to win. And he hates losing. But I cannot recall any single instance of the manager putting a player in any situation where development was sacrificed for the sake of winning.

If anything, Ryan may have ruffled feathers with the Pirates by calling out players publicly. I’m in the media, and I’ve written repeatedly how much I enjoy that he’s honest with the press, but the way the Pirates operate, I can totally see how that would rub them the wrong way.

Holding players accountable is not The Pirate Way.

Clint Hurdle tries to be everybody’s buddy and is a rah-rah manager who makes baffling decisions during games. There’s no way, no how he should have gotten a four-year contract extension two years ago. It was absurd.

Same with Huntington, who also got four extra years.

Again, absurd.

Those guys should be forced to prove themselves every year in order to keep their jobs.

Instead, the Pirates fire a guy like Michael Ryan, who doesn’t make a ton of money and has no long-term contract, in an effort to show that they are willing to make some changes because the big league team is awful.

They made the wrong change, plain and simple.

They’re too busy focusing on the unyielding, inflexible silliness of The Pirate Way to realize that.

Cory Giger can be reached at cgiger@altoonamirror.com

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