Steve Blass, the Falls Village native who went on to notch two complete game victories for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1971 World Series, said that Ed Kirby was a successful baseball coach because he was a very thorough baseball coach — especially on baseball fundamentals.
When Blass joined the Housatonic Valley Regional High School team, Kirby “had a 5-inch thick handbook.
“He handed it to me and said ‘Study this.’”
Kirby, whose teams were successful before Blass joined, saw something in the skinny youngster.
“He worked my butt off, because he thought I had a chance to play professional baseball.”
Blass also experienced Ed Kirby, disciplinarian.
“I was swearing one day, and he came up behind me and said, quietly, ‘If I hear any more of that stuff, I don’t think you will play a single game at this school.’”
Blass said he remained close to Kirby throughout his baseball and his subsequent broadcasting career.
“When I won my first major league game [May 18, 1964, in Los Angeles against the Dodgers and Don Drysdale], first I called my parents, and then I called Ed.”
Blass called Kirby “a Renaissance man.”
“He was so aware of the world around him.”
Blass recalled when Kirby got Butch Cassidy’s sister to address an assembly at the high school.
“That kind of thing doesn’t happen by accident.”
When Blass retired from television broadcasting of Pirates games in 2019, the club held a special night for him and asked if there was anyone he’d like to invite.
“I said ‘Ed and Mary Kirby’ and they said ‘done.’”
Blass said he was able to catch up with Kirby by phone a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s the mark of a real friendship when you might not speak for a while but when you do, it’s like you saw each other yesterday.”
