MLB / Players

Steve Blass

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 165 lb

BornApril 18, 1942 · Canaan, CT, USA

MLB debutMay 10, 1964

Final gameApril 17, 1974

Seasons10 (1964–1974)

Pittsburgh Pirates 1964; Pittsburgh Pirates 1966–1974

Percentile snapshot

1972 season — qualified pitchers

34.5

53.6

82.1

57.1

SHO

22.6

227

20.2

63.1

17.9

117

39.3

29.8

249.7

67.9

ERA

2.49

84.5

WHIP

1.246

36.9

K/9

4.22

15.5

FIP

3.58

17.9

FIP-

106.6

16.7

ERA+

135.2

85.7

sWAR

5.3

86.9

of 85 qualified 1972 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

95.0

17.9

sWAR

12.9

89.6

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1964	24	34	30	0	2	0	0	0	1	2	13	.067	.125	.067	.192	-51.7	-43.8	.103	0.2
1966	34	54	52	3	12	1	0	0	6	0	15	.231	.231	.250	.481	26.3	34.2	.218	1.1
1967	32	42	39	2	5	0	0	0	5	1	12	.128	.150	.128	.278	-32.5	-19.5	.135	0.9
1968	35	88	80	7	11	1	0	0	8	2	30	.138	.155	.150	.305	-24.7	-7.4	.146	4.5
1969	44	87	84	12	21	0	2	1	9	1	16	.250	.259	.333	.592	62.8	67.6	.272	0.2
1970	32	76	70	3	8	1	0	0	2	2	15	.114	.137	.129	.266	-35.7	-27.0	.127	2.6
1971	34	92	83	5	10	0	1	0	2	1	15	.120	.131	.145	.276	-38.7	-21.1	.129	3.7
1972	35	96	82	8	15	2	0	0	3	2	22	.183	.202	.207	.410	8.8	18.7	.194	5.3
1973	24	29	24	2	10	2	0	0	1	0	2	.417	.417	.500	.917	164.1	157.7	.421	-5.4
1974	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-123.5	-100.0	.000	-0.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1964	24	13	5	8	0	3	1	107	47	45	67	9	104.7	4.04	1.452	5.76	3.91	111.4	86.8	0.2
1966	34	25	11	7	0	1	0	173	67	46	76	12	155.7	3.87	1.407	4.39	3.62	100.6	92.9	1.1
1967	32	16	6	8	0	2	0	126	50	47	72	12	126.7	3.55	1.366	5.12	3.91	115.3	95.5	0.9
1968	33	31	18	6	0	12	7	191	52	57	132	13	220.3	2.12	1.126	5.39	2.94	99.7	139.0	4.5
1969	38	32	16	10	2	9	0	207	104	86	147	21	210.0	4.46	1.395	6.30	3.87	110.7	78.5	0.2
1970	31	31	10	12	0	6	1	187	77	73	120	14	196.7	3.52	1.322	5.49	3.74	95.4	111.4	2.6
1971	33	33	15	8	0	12	5	226	76	68	136	16	240.0	2.85	1.225	5.10	3.15	92.4	119.6	3.7
1972	33	32	19	8	0	11	2	227	69	84	117	18	249.7	2.49	1.246	4.22	3.58	106.6	135.2	5.3
1973	23	18	3	9	0	1	0	109	97	84	27	11	88.7	9.85	2.177	2.74	6.80	191.1	36.2	-5.4
1974	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	7	2	2	5.0	9.00	2.400	3.60	11.19	319.7	38.9	-0.3

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

295

600

546

RBI

140

.1722

OBP

.1875

SLG

.2015

OPS

.3890

Pitching

G (P)

282

231

103

SHO

354th-most career SHO

1,597

SO (P)

896

BB allowed

597

ERA

3.629

WHIP

1.3491

K/9

5.05

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB
1969-09-05	PIT @ CHC Gameday	5	2	4	0	0	1	3	7
1969-04-25	WSH @ PIT Gameday	4	2	2	0	1	0	2	4
1970-06-09	PIT @ SF Gameday	3	0	2	1	0	0	1	3
1969-09-27	CHC @ PIT Gameday	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	3
1971-06-05	HOU @ PIT Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1971-05-26	CIN @ PIT Gameday	9.0	5	0	0	3	11	0
1968-09-15	PIT @ NYM Gameday	9.0	2	0	0	3	10	0
1970-06-13	PIT @ SD Gameday	9.0	8	2	2	4	10	1
1970-04-07	NYM @ PIT Gameday	10.0	9	3	3	2	9	0
1968-06-07	PIT @ HOU Gameday	9.0	5	0	0	2	9	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

1× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.