Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a terrific start.
Steve Blass is a hero to Pittsburgh Pirates fans. In my neck of the woods he is a hero too. Blass, who was born in Canaan, CT, pitched two complete game victories in the 1971 World Series for the Bucs, including the Game 7 clincher in Baltimore against the Orioles. He later went on to a successful career as a broadcaster with the Pirates.
Blass attended high school at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT. He was one of three pitchers from that school, who went on to pitch in the major leagues. John Lamb and Tom Parsons were the others. What an amazing feat for one, small high school to have three pitchers make the majors. Blass, by the way, married Lamb’s sister, Karen, and Parsons and Karen are cousins.
When I worked at a radio station in Sharon, CT, Blass would occasionally be a guest on my show, as he often returned to the area to visit his mother and friends. His mother was also a frequent caller to my program.
So why all the talk about Blass? Last week, Blass, 81, was back home speaking to a gathering of people in Canaan about his career, his days growing up in northwest Connecticut and his everlasting friendships that will always bind him to the area. Ruth Epstein, an outstanding reporter for the Republican-American newspaper in Waterbury, CT covered the event. I would link to the story but it is behind a paywall, so you will have to Google it.
Among the topics Blass discussed was his close friendship with Roberto Clemente, his legendary Pirates teammate. When the iconic Clemente died tragically in a plane crash, delivering supplies to the people of Nicaragua, following a devastating storm, it was Blass who delivered the eulogy at Clemente’s services.
All of this got me to thinking about one of the many benefits of baseball and for sports in general. And it has nothing to do with money. It is about the friendships made. Where else, but in sports, especially baseball, could someone from a small town in Connecticut, become great friends with someone from a small town in Puerto Rico?
From a player’s perspective, that is one of the beautiful things about sports; the friendships forged forever, long after their playing days are over. And so it was with Steve Blass and Roberto Clemente, both heroes for the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose paths would have probably never crossed, if it wasn’t for a round ball and a wooden bat.
Why is the trade deadline August 1?
As you read this, major league baseball’s trade deadline is today at 6:00 p.m. So why the change? Didn’t the deadline used to be July 31st at 4:00 p.m.? Under the new collective bargaining agreement that went into effect last season, MLB now has the wiggle room to set the trade deadline between July 28th and August 3rd. Last year, for example, the deadline was August 2, although the season did start a week later because of the labor strife that delayed the season’s start. The time was also shifted from 4 to 6 p.m. to assist west coast clubs. Waiver deals are no longer permitted after the deadline, per the agreement.
Or course, I am old enough to remember when the trade deadline was June 15, to prevent the type of trade machinations by clubs that you see now, with the later deadline. Of course, baseball believes those machinations have gone by the wayside with an expanded playoff field. Of course, I am also old enough to remember when signs were posted throughout a ballpark that read “No Betting On Games.” Now some ballparks are home to betting parlors. Everything changes, I guess.
Football camps in full swing
NFL camps are in full swing. College football teams start practice this week. That means a plethora of stories all in the name of generating content. Already, we are reading that some teams have had a bad practice, players are fighting and wide outs are running the wrong pass routes. Well, isn’t that why they have practices?
These days with apps, websites and social media; every practice, every play at practice, generates a story. It doesn’t matter that all of this will be forgotten in a nanosecond. In the USA, football is king and so is content. The two make a perfect marriage.
That is going to do it for this week’s newsletter. There will not be a newsletter next week but I will return in two weeks on Aug. 15. As always, thank you for your support and I hope your summer is going well.
SPORTSCASTER DAN