Paul Blair   |   Major Leaguer   1964-1980

[1967] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF), AL MVP (Voting Rank: #16)  [1969] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF), AL MVP (Voting Rank: #11), Played in MLB All-Star Game  [1970] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF)  [1971] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF)  [1972] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF)  [1973] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF), AL MVP (Voting Rank: #33), Played in MLB All-Star Game  [1974] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF), AL MVP (Voting Rank: #13)  [1975] - AL Gold Glove Award (OF)  [1986] - Hall of Fame Ballot Voting (8 votes - 1.88%)

A slick-fielding, talkative outfielder who had a knack for getting to the post-season as well as he got to balls in centerfield. Blair was known as Motormouth at times in his career and though his numbers were not of hall-of-fame calibre, he put together a solid career.

Blair won 8 gold gloves in his career and was known as an excellent outfielder. He would play shallow to cut off any shorter hits and he could go back on a fly ball with the best of them. Though it was his fielding that made his name, Blair had good speed on the basepaths and displayed good power throughout his career, finishing with 134 home runs after his 17 years in the big leagues were complete.

Blair was originally signed by the Mets in 1961 but he was stolen away by the Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft and he would remain with the Orioles until he was traded to the Yankees in 1977. Blair spent 3 seasons in the minors before he was promoted to the big leagues for good for the 1965 season where he became a regular at the age of 21.

Though Blair hit close to .300 on a few occasions in his career, he was wildly inconsistent from season to season and would end up hitting only .250 for his career. Some of that had to do with the fact that he suffered a severe eye injury in 1970 when he was beaned by Ken Tatum. Following the injury, he had difficulty settling in at the plate and he sought out professional help to get him back on track. Though he had some good seasons following the beaning, his power mysteriously disappeared in 1975 and his batting average became a liability forcing him to become a part-time player for the last 5 years of his career.

Blair batted in the #2 spot for most of his career and was a very good bunter. He attempted to become a switch-hitter during the 1971 season but stopped after going 11 for 57. This was an attempt to overcome the lingering effects of being beaned by Tatum in 1970.

After his career, Blair was involved in baseball camps, lending his name to help others learn to play baseball.,br>

Notes: His home run won game 3 of 1966 world series...Played in 2 all-star games during his career (1969, 1973)....Member of the World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles in 1966 and 1970 and also won the World Series with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978....Gold glove winner in 1967 and 1969-1975...Named outfielder on The Sporting News AL All-Star Team (1969 and 1974)...Hit 3 homers in a game on April 29,1970...Had good success against Steve Barber (12/25 .480)

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