Comments on: Steve Blass’ Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Disease

By: mdeva

mdeva — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:30:09 +0000

Victim: George W Bush

Year of infliction: 2000

Before Steve Blass: Relatively harmless, inept cowboy.

After Steve Blass: Virtually destroyed the free-est, most powerful nation on the face of the earth.

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:13:24 +0000

Happy to update Minnesotan comment that Rick is doing really well considering his road back. He really uses his pitching arm as a cannon from the outfield.

By: RIH

RIH — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:57:47 +0000

There is an old story in Pgh. that the reason Steve Blass crashed was Dave Cash, the Pirate second baseman was messing with his wife.
Check out how suddenly and totally by surprise Dave Cash was traded to the Phillies. Coincidence? I think not.

Get your head messed with like that, and you wouldn’t tell anyone either. You’d just suffer and finally quit.

By: Jimmytex

Jimmytex — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 12:02:26 +0000

The most obvious Steve Blass victim in my lifetime…OK, all this is from memory, but here goes:

Nick Anderson, SG, Orlando Magic, in the early-to-mid 90’s.

Before SB: One of the better three-point marksmen and free-throw shooters in basketball, with a decent variety of face-up moves. A high-percentage 17 ppg wing scorer that helped get Shaq and Penny to the 1995 NBA Finals.

SB Moment: With the Magic up by six points and under a minute left, Anderson missed the last four Magic free throws in regulation of Game One against the Rockets. After both pairs of missed free throws the Rockets got 3-pointers – first from Sam Cassell and then a deep bomb from Kenny Smith with virtually no time left, to send the game into overtime. Hakeem dominates in OT and the Rockets go on to sweep the series.

After SB: Couldn’t shoot straight again, especially at the stripe. IIRC, he went from at least a mid-eighties in free throw percentage to mid-fifties overnight, challenging Shaq for the worst free-throw percentage in the league. He never recovered his shot; was out of the NBA after a couple of nightmarishly bad years.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:34:40 +0000

It’s Mackey Sasser, not Mickey. And I agree with Tom – Rick Ankiel should be on this list.

By: Bassman

Bassman — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:16:07 +0000

I have interludes of Blassism. Sometimes I pick up my bass and… well, it’s just a damn shame.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:29:26 +0000

InternJason — Great post. Before long, you’ll just be “Jason” and I’ll need a new name. “The Other Jason” or “Jason2.” Or Kenneth.

By: Minnesotan

Minnesotan — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:47:12 +0000

Ankiel is actually making a comeback now with the Cardinals as an outfielder. I remember he was supposed to be the best young phenom pitcher in quite some time, until all of the sudden his pitches started hitting the backstop more often than the catcher’s mitt. Then, as now, he could hit like an AL DH, so Saint Louis kept him around, and now he’s on his way back, just not as a pitcher.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:48:39 +0000

Steve Blass is a color analyst for the Pittsburgh Pirates now. I don’t think it was intentional, but the post implies that Blass left baseball completely after his playing career ended.

The last athlete I remember hearing had Steve Blass disease was pitcher Rick Ankiel of the St Louis Cardinals.

I’d take LeBron James off of the list. His career hasn’t peaked yet and his play was a major factor in getting the Cavaliers to the finals of the NBA playoffs this year.

By: Jason!

Jason! — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:17:59 +0000

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Mark Wohlers. He was that pitcher for the Braves that started his downhill spiral during the 96 world series.

Bent talk from Jason!