In 1972 Blass was 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA. He was runner-up to Steve Carlton (27-10, 1.97 on a horrible team) in the Cy Young voting. Blass also made his only All-Star Game appearance in 1972.
He found himself on a Kellogg's card in 1972 and 1973. I've had a tough time finding his Kellogg's cards in decent condition.
On April 17th 1974 he played in his last game a day before turning 32. He pitched five innings in relief and gave up eight runs. He surrendered back-to-back homers to Bill Madlock and George Mitterwald.
He was the winning pitcher in game seven of the 1971 World Series while also recording another win in the Series.
Why was Blass out of baseball at a young age? I heard plenty about Steve Sax "disease", a condition named after Sax when he no longer could throw the ball to first base from his position at second base. I had never heard of Steve Blass "disease".
Blass got the "disease" named after him because he suddenly lost control on the mound in 1973. He walked almost a batter per inning and had an ERA of 9,85 in over 88 innings (18 starts and 5 relief appearances).
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