Steve Blass Got Backing!

 

TRIVIA WINNER: Don Drysdale died in a hotel room in Montreal.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name the two, two-time MVP's who twice led the major leagues in Total Bases with more than 400?

Most pitchers will moan about the "lack of run support" they get from the bats of their teammates, but in 1969 the Pirates Steve Blass had no such complaint. Blass, who would win 16 of 26 decisions for a Pittsburgh team which was expected to do better, saw his team post at least 10 runs for him a lot.

   The Pirates, under Larry Shepard, would finish with 88 wins but end up in third place in the tough National League Eastern Division. They acquired aging Jim Bunning to bolster a starting staff which included Blass, Bob Veale and Bob Moose. Pirate bats were still strong with five regulars batting better than .300, led by Roberto Clemente at .345. Matty Alou hit .331 while Manny Sanguillen, rookie Richie Hebner and Willie Stargell all bested .300. Stargell added 29 homers as well.

Off the bench Carl Taylor hit .348 and was supported by veterans Gene Alley and Jose Pagan, along with youngsters in waiting Bob Robertson and Dave Cash. Freddie Patek was the shortstop, Bill Mazeroski at second and rookie Al Oliver would hit 17 homers while batting a respectable .285. 

For a change however, it was the Pirates starting pitchers which played a big positive role and Blass took the lead. The current Pirates announcer would be the first to admit the bats were working in his favor.

While Blass opened the season against Cardinal's ace Bob Gibson, with a no-decision in a 14-inning game, he was masterful. He allowed only two runs in seven innings, matching Gibson pitch for pitch. It wasn't often the Bucs scored a lowly two runs for their big guy.

In his next three wins the Pirates scored 8, 8 and 7 runs. In his losses and no decisions they weren't that productive but on June 1, the Bucco bats exploded for 14 runs to back Blass to make his record 4-2 without the aid of a home run. Five games later against the Braves the Pirates scored 10 runs behind Blass who went the distance for a six-hitter. Four days after that he started at Houston and the Pirates scored 13 runs. Included was a Clemente grand slam and while Blass was not very effective he still picked up the win to run his record to 6-2.

On August 5th, Blass started against Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine and Buc bats awoke again, scoring 11 runs with the aid of homers by Stargell, Sanguillen and Maz, as Blass bested Don Drysdale to run his record to 11-7. It would be the last double digit scoring behind Blass for the season. Five more times during the season the Pirates would score at least 10 runs with Moose (14-3) benefiting twice. 

When the dust cleared the Pirates led the league in runs, hits, triple and batting average. The team BA was .277 with non-pitchers hitting an amazing .290! While Pirate pitching ended up in the middle to later portion of the 12 team NL pack, they did lead the league in allowing the least home runs (they still played in spacious Forbes Field) and were second in strikeouts. Five Pirate pitchers finished with at least 10 wins. 

Despite his 4.46 ERA, Blass still managed a 16-10 record to lead Pittsburgh in wins. It was a far cry from his masterful 1968 season at 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA. He would go on to be the ace of the Pirates staff for years to come and 3-1 in the post season, including 2-0 in the 1971 World Series won by the Pirates.

This last season Blass retired as a beloved Pirates broadcaster to a standing ovation from the fans. He spent over half a century in the Pirates organization. 

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Big D's Best Ever

 

TRIVIA WINNER: In 1880 playing for the Troy Trojans Tim Keefe pitched 105 innings and registered the lowest ERA ever in the history of big league baseball at 0.86.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Don Drysdale died while working for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In what city did he pass away?

There is no doubt Don Drysdale was one of the best pitchers of the 1960s and in 1962 he had his best season ever. Twice a 20 game winner, and a 19 game winner in another season, in "62 he was perhaps one of the best of all time.

Walking away with a 25-9 record over 314 innings, Big D as he was known in Los Angeles worked his way to a 41 start season (Led the NL) and completed 19 games, but he also finished two others pitching in 43 Dodger contests. He also struck out 232 batters and had a 1.11 WHIP on his way to winning the Cy Young Award.

He was probably never better than on May 23rd, facing the Mets and he faced just three batters over the minimum in throwing just 110 pitches in a nine inning 3-1 win. He allowed just four hits. In 1962 beating the Mets wasn't such an achievement for anybody but it just showed how dominant Drysdale was in 1962. 

However the very next start he beat the Phillies 2-1, going the distance again. In wins no. 23 and 25 he tossed shutouts and in each faced just 35 batters or eight over the minimum. And did we mention he also had five extra base hits and 14 RBI on the season? O course in later years and through 1966 Drysdale would team with Sandy Koufax to establish one of the dominant duo's in baseball.

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Bob Gibson's Amazing Season and a Slow Start

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The players who were on the 1964 San Diego minor league club who pitched for the Minnesota Twins were Al Worthington and the multi positional player, Cesar Tovar who pitched one game in 1968.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Who holds the major league baseball record for the lowest ERA in a single season in history?

It may surprise you that during one of the greatest pitching seasons a pitcher ever had, Bob Gibson didn't win his first game in the 1968 season until the Cardinals 14th start. In fact, he opened the season with a marvelous pitching performance which St. Louis won, but Gibby gave way to Ray Washburn. This after Gibson went seven innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits. Washburn got the win 2-1.

Gibson pitched well enough to win in his next starts but didn't get any support until Game 14, April 26. He gave up seven hits and one run in beating the Pirates and Bob Veale. Veale, who would also have a decent season was 0-3 with the loss to the Cardinals, 2-1. The Bucs hurler gave up two runs in seven innings on four hits, but the Pirates couldn't figure out Gibby. 

Gibson would go on to a 22-9 record with an amazing ERA of 1.12, leading the league with 13 shutouts, he pitched 304 innings and had 268 strikeouts on his way to both the Cy Young Award and the MVP. His WHIP was an amazing 0.83. His ERA was among the best in baseball history. 

It was a National League Championship season for the Cardinals even though they lost the World Series to Detroit, 4-3. Gibson won two games before losing Game Seven 4-1. 

For Bob Veale, in case you were wondering, he finished with a 2.05 ERA but was only 13-14 with Pittsburgh. 

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

From the Field to the Canvas

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The players who were related in the story about last week's game were the Conigliaro's (Tony and Billy) and the Tartabull's (Danny and dad Jose).  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name two players who were on that 1964 San Diego team who pitched for the Minnesota Twins.

When Terry Banderas slid awkwardly into third base in a game in 1966 while playing in the minor leagues, he required surgery. It did not correct the problem and the centerfielder/third baseman tells us he couldn't throw any more. 

"I knew it was over at that point," he told me recently. "The Reds wanted me to come back and they kept sending me a contract, but my wife and I had decided if I was going to go back down to a lower league, which they wanted, I was going to call it quits."

The former Angels farmhand hit 26 homers in five minor league seasons with a .254 lifetime average. He played with a lot of future big leaguers including Art Shamsky, Don Rudolph, Chico Ruize and more.

"I roomed with Tommy Helms for quite a while," he said. "He was a great roommate. I was sorry to hear he passed."

Helms died in April of this year (2025) at 83. They spent the 1964 season together in San Diego of the PCL.

                        (Terry Banderas painting of the Golden Gate Bridge)

Banderas career over and with an Art Degree in his pocket (he graduated from Fresno State), he found a job with an aerospace firm in San Diego. It was back home for him and he signed on as a Graphic Artist. He worked there until he retired. 

All along the way he painted.

"I loved to paint," he said. "Anything, sports, landscapes, trees, houses, cars, I just loved to paint."

He would do trade shows and sell online but didn't like the online system at all and just recently, at 85, he decided he no longer will sell any of his paintings. His repertoire reached hundreds of frameable paintings, and he still has many. He says he'll just give them away to friends and family now.

He looks back fondly on his baseball career and says the best thing to come from it was he met a young girl selling snow cones while he was playing. It wasn't long before they were married and now have been together for more than 60 years. Starting out with the Angels, he found his Angel, and Elaine remains at his side today.

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment.