Paul Blair. perhaps one of the greatest center fielders in the history of baseball died Thursday night while bowling outside of Baltimore City. Blair, a multiple winner of the Gold Glove played very shallow, and had the ability to break at the crack of the bat to where the ball would be. He made a lot of pitchers look better than they were. He played before free-agency, and his total earnings didn't even reach 1/2 a $million. In today's market, he'd be making $8-10 mill a year.
Thank you, Paul Blair, for many hours of entertainment watching you play center field, or listening to Chuck Thompson describe your heroics on the radio.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

A great center fielder is a beauty to behold and he was absolutely a great center fielder. He was a big part of the great Earl Weaver teams.

I forgot he was a Yankee too.

A little light with the stick however. I'd have to give Curt Flood a very slight nod as an all around CFer. Hard to get one past either of them though.

Former Yankees outfielder Paul Blair dies at age 69

Former Yankees outfielder Paul Blair dies at age 69 - NY Daily News

.......In May of 1970, Blair was hit in the face by a fastball by the Angels’ Ken Tatum and suffered severe facial and eye injuries. “After that,” Michael said, “he was never the same hitter.” Nevertheless in the 1970 World Series against the Reds, Blair tied a record for most hits in a five-game Series, going 9-for-19.

“I talked to my dad (Wednesday) and he sounded real tired,” Blair’s son, Paul Jr., said by phone Thursday night. “He'd had a heart attack two years ago and they put a stent in and he also recently had both hips replaced, but he was doing fine. He loved to bowl so I know he was in a place where he was most happy.”

RIP

He played before my time but I've heard the same accolades. RIP, Mr. Blair.

Or $153 million over 7 years if he was signed by the Yankees.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Touche.

He was bowling in Pikesville, Maryland, when the heart attack hit. That is a very Baltimore way to go out and I mean that with great affection for Baltimore.

Sorry, I'm still bitter...

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

The local news stories specified that he was bowling [B]ten pins.[B] Most of the world knows ONLY ten pin bowling. Here, in B-more duck pins is, maybe, more popular. Duckpins are smaller, and balls are much smaller--3 balls per frame.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

As was a certain O's shortstop of the same era. Earl knew how to use players like that.

Yeah, he stuck around a while....multiple eras.
Baltimore has had some great players (and good men) through the years. Guy I went to HS with played for the O's, He became a successful DH & later a batting coach. Terry Crowley.
What went wrong in '69?

The great O's teams were based on 2 rather simple premises, -1 "Pitching and Defense". You don't need to score a ton of runs if the other teams can't score any. ( Come to think of it--that works in football, too...) and 2- develop a good farm system and teach one way to perform every fundamental. Paul Richards, the first manager 1954-, came up with that winning formula; it just took over a decade to fully implement and then see the results. It was called "The Oriole Way".

Then the O's got stupid and figured scoring a lot of runs was easier and cheaper than "The Oriole Way". Years of frustration for the fans and poor performance by the Birds of Baltimore resulted from that mental error. A return to the old ways is finally showing some results, but the Owner is a real miser, and the O's now operate like an NFL team with a salary cap.

Gus Triandos also died this year. I pass by his old neighborhood, where they named his street in his honor decades ago almost every day. Gus first used the giant mitt to try and corral Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckle ball. No one knew where that was going once it left his hand. The big mitt gave Gus at least a chance to swat the ball to the ground.
Boog, Brooks, Apparicio, Belanger, and a few good pitchers. Has any other team team ever had 4 pitchers with 20+ wins each in the same season? They will all be passing on soon.
Baseball on the radio on a summer afternoon, or evening while lying on the grass in the shade of some big trees. It was a good childhood.
Thank You Paul Blair, and all the others.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Don't forget "The voice" Chuck Thompson

"Great range has Paul Blair."

" Ain't the Beer Cold, Baby"

Frank Deford's NPR Tribute to Chuck Thompson - YouTube

And the late Wild Bill Hagy: William 'Wild Bill' Hagy; 'Unofficial Official' Orioles Cheerleader

Chuck could make radio pictures better than seeing it.
Wild Bill was pure Baltimore.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags