'Burgh's best to wear it, No. 28: Half-century after World Series triumph, Steve Blass remains 'a Pirate for life'

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 28: Steve Blass

Steve Blass’ biography could have only one title: “A Pirate For Life.” And so it was named.

Pittsburgh Pirates chairman of the board Bob Nutting used those words last year to describe Blass upon the announcement of his retirement after 60 years with the franchise as a pitcher, broadcaster and goodwill ambassador.

Of those 60 seasons, he spent 11 pitching for the Pirates (1964-1974) and then 34 as a broadcaster.

He threw two complete-game victories in the 1971 World Series, a 5-1 win in Game 3 after the Baltimore Orioles had jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, and a 2-1 triumph in the decisive Game 7.

Despite control problems at the end of his career, Blass still won 103 games in 11 seasons, including 19 in 1972.

Those are credentials enough to be the Tribune-Review sports staff’s choice for the best athlete in Pittsburgh to wear No. 28.

During that 1972 season, he compiled a 2.49 ERA in 249 2/3 innings, walking only 84 batters.

Blass was a workhorse — a vanishing breed among pitchers in today’s game — and threw at least 210 innings four times. In the past decade, no Pirates pitcher has reached that threshold.

One season after winning 19 games, Blass struggled to find the strike zone, walking 84 batters in 88 2/3 innings and leading the National League with 12 hit-batsmen. He retired after the ’74 season.

When he announced he would retire as an announcer, Blass said he’ll always remember how Pirates managers Danny Murtaugh and Bill Virdon kept him on the team for two seasons while he tried and failed to regain command of the strike zone.

“Those are the things I get emotional about,” Blass said. “You don’t forget those things. I know I shouldn’t have been out on the mound, but I could not quit.”

At the end, when he knew his career was over, he said his eyes filled with tears as he sat in his Upper St. Clair backyard at 4 a.m. “Because I knew I wasn’t going to be a Pirate anymore.”

Yet he went on to more than triple his time as a player, telling stories and informing fans from the broadcast booth at Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.

“He’s a great entertainer,” said Bob Walk, a broadcast partner for 25 years. “To me, he reminds me of Bob Hope or somebody like that who has always got a great story at the right time. His delivery is always perfect.”

Which is all you can ask of any pitcher.

Blass’ competition among No. 28s includes:

• Bill Robinson, who was born in McKeesport and attended Elizabeth Forward High School, enjoyed a 16-year career in baseball, eight with the Pirates.

He played on the 1979 World Series champions, slashing .264/.302/.504. His best season was 1977, when his numbers were .304/.337/.525 with a career-high 26 home runs and 104 RBIs. He hit 109 of his 166 career home runs with the Pirates.

• Dion Lewis is one of the greatest running backs in Pitt history, standing second to Tony Dorsett on the school’s all-time single-season rushing list (1,799 in 2009). That year, he became the first player since Michael Vick in 1999 to earn Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season.

Lewis was celebrated as national freshman of the year by several outlets and was named second-team Associated Press All-American.

After two seasons at Pitt, he finished sixth in career yards (2,860) before embarking on an NFL career that took him from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Patriots to the Tennessee Titans to the New York Giants.

In seven seasons, he has totaled of 3,591 yards rushing and receiving. A year after rushing for 896 yards for the Patriots, he caught 59 passes for the Titans.

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.