From HVRHS to the Major Leagues: Two pros talk

I used to say while I was playing baseball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) how proud I felt to wear that jersey and represent our high school. My friends, teammates and peers thought I was just saying it as a fake-spirited rah-rah type of thing, or just thought I was crazy. I meant it with every ounce of my being and I was not the first one to think this way. 

“If you were going to do research on the history of high school baseball in the state of Connecticut, you were going to have to spend some time talking about Housatonic,” said Steve Blass during a phone conversation we had after his retirement as a broadcaster with the Pittsburgh Pirates (see the article in the Oct. 31 Lakeville Journal and online here). 

Getting to know Blass (who grew up in Falls Village), Ed Kirby (who lives in Sharon) and Champ Perotti of North Canaan only further proved how right I was during my high school years to wear Housatonic across my chest proudly and play on that field overlooking the river.

Including myself, Housatonic has had nine baseball players either drafted or signed to play affiliated minor league baseball. The big three are Tom Parsons, John Lamb and of course Blass; they are the three Major League Baseball players from HVRHS. Blass and Kirby said Tom Parsons and John Lamb were as good as anyone they had ever played with or coached, but for various reasons had just the proverbial “cup of coffee” in the Big Leagues. 

Blass, as we all know, was a different story.

The greatest ever

Blass, a self-proclaimed “skinny kid from Falls Village,” played for the Pirates in the 1960s and 1970s. He threw complete games in games 3 and 7 of the 1971 World Series, finishing runner-up as the World Series MVP to Roberto Clemente. Blass was the starting pitcher in the 1972 Major League Baseball All-Star game and finished the year 19-8 with a 2.49 earned run average, finishing second in the Cy Young voting to some guy named Steve Carlton. I could go all day, the point being that he is, without question, the greatest athlete to walk the halls of Housatonic Valley Regional High School.  

“There was a pretty high bar,” said Steve Blass talking about entering the Housatonic baseball program his freshman year. “We had a legacy at the high school for baseball. Scouts would stick around when someone was doing something above average; you and I know that personally.” 

The coaching pinnacle

Ed Kirby was the head coach of the HVRHS baseball team from 1955 to 1966, a period in which the school had both its most success and its most talent at any point in the program’s history. In three out of Blass’ four years at Housatonic, the team made it to the Class B state championship game, but fell short each of those years. Kirby will tell you it would have been more memorable if they had won, but the success coming out of a school in the woods of the Northwest Corner was unprecedented.

“Two of the best pitchers in my time as a coach were Art Lamb, the oldest of the Lambs, and Jack Bristol from Sharon.” Kirby said. Wait what? Where’s Steve Blass on that list, Coach? 

Sharon’s elite pitchers

Art Lamb was the older brother of former Major Leaguer and Pirate John Lamb, and one of three great Lamb pitching brothers, including Pete Lamb who pitched at UConn. Art signed after his 1959 high school season and played rookie ball in the Appalachian League. He developed a cyst in his throwing arm, had surgery, and was never the same, according to Kirby. 

Jack Bristol, also of Sharon, was an ace for the Florida State Seminoles in the mid-1950s before signing with the Kansas City Athletics, reaching Double-A in his minor league career. 

The town of Sharon alone, as well as the Region One School District, had a knack for producing elite pitchers. Kirby said that Steve, obviously, turned out to be the best he had ever coached. But some of these guys matched up with Blass in terms of talent during their high school days.

“You’re currently part of the group of guys, from a high school up in the corner of rural Connecticut, who signed to play professional baseball. Not everybody made it,” Blass said. “And to have three Major Leaguers come out of there, and you’re going to be the fourth, it’s an amazing thing.”

Blass could not have been more spot-on about the amazing things our baseball program has accomplished. To Blass, myself, and many other HVRHS baseball alumni, the preservation of the tradition means everything. 

“I think at every Housy orientation, they should take the kids into the auditorium and play the highlights of the 1971 World Series, where he says, ‘I’m just a skinny kid from Falls Village,’ just for motivation,” said Champ Perotti, captain of the baseball team in his 1983 senior season. 

The homecoming

Perotti let me borrow a treasure chest of Steve Blass memorabilia and videos to sift through. Articles from the day Blass helped the Pirates to a World Championship, clippings about Steve Blass Day in North Canaan when the hero returned home from the victory, the ’72 Sports Illustrated that featured Blass on the cover. This was a literal gold mine for me. 

“My first memory about Steve was Steve Blass Day,” said Perotti talking about the World Series celebration on Oct. 22, 1971. Nearly 5,000 people came to North Canaan to greet Blass. 

According to that day’s edition of the Connecticut Western newspaper,  “special invitations to participate have been extended to President Nixon.” Yes, the president of the United States was invited to North Canaan because of Steve Blass. Something like that could only happen in baseball. 

“That was always big in my mind, I don’t know if that was what motivated me to connect with Steve,” Perotti said. “Because he was just larger than life. You know, how many guys ever do what he did?” 

‘I like golf’

Perotti eventually joined the Region One Athletic Fund and in 2006 when the fund was thinking of someone to come and help at a fundraiser, he suggested Blass. 

“Let’s play some golf,” Blass recalled saying at the time. “I like golf.” 

Thus the first annual Steve Blass Golf Tournament happened in 2006 to raise money for the Region One Athletic Fund. Blass brought dozens of pieces of Pittsburgh sports memorabilia to be auctioned off in the post-tournament event, helping to raise thousands of dollars for Region One sports programs.

“That was the kickoff and he graciously came back every year and never said no,” said Perotti. 

Baseball, and life 

It was at this event in 2017 that I finally met Blass. I had just finished my first professional season in the Gulf Coast League and he could not have been nicer to me. We have since exchanged a letter or two and spoken on the phone about baseball and life. 

I look up to him in the baseball world for so many reasons. One, to reach the top of my game and never forget in the process that I came from HVRHS and the Northwest Corner. Two, as a broadcaster and how he combined his baseball knowledge with his future career, as I would like to get into the booth when my playing days conclude. Finally, being a happy guy and remembering to always give people my time as a baseball player, even on the worst days.

“I learned a lot about myself those last two years,” Blass said talking about his experience with the “yips.” The term “yips” is used to describe the sudden loss of an athlete’s certain skill, and is most common among baseball pitchers and golfers.

One of the most impressive parts about Steve Blass is that he never let losing control and his career not ending the way he wanted it to define him or make him unhappy. In fact, I do not know if I have met a more jolly guy, which really speaks to his character. 

“It doesn’t take much,” Blass said about giving fans his time. “Just 30 seconds of your time to a youngster can change their life. Some people lose sight of that.” 

Types of people like Steve Blass, Ed Kirby, John Lamb, Champ Perotti, among many others who have given back to the Housatonic Baseball Program and the entire school are what motivate me to reach the top of my game, be the best person I can be and always do the right thing in the process. 

I would not be where I am without men like them to lay the bricks of this program down for me to be a part of from 2011 to 2014. I did the best I could during that time to continue the tradition and will do so for the rest of my life in representing the school and giving back any way that I can. 

My wish during my days at Housatonic, and my message to the kids that are there now, is that we all need to have a greater appreciation of the history and tradition of our small high school. Steve Blass proved to us in 1971 that you can do anything you set your mind to coming out of Housatonic with hard work and a positive mindset. His proof of that is what fuels me and is what makes me love this area so much. Even way out here in the woods, anything is possible.

Willy Yahn is a professional baseball player, a 2014 graduate of Housatonic Valley Regional High School, a 2018 graduate of the journalism program at the University of Connecticut and a reporter for The Lakeville Journal.