Paul L. D. Blair (February 1, 1944 – December 26, 2013) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1964 through 1980, most notably as the center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League pennants and two World Series championships between 1966 and 1970. He also played for the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds.
A two-time All-Star player, Blair excelled as a defensive player, winning the Gold Glove Award eight times, including seven consecutive years from 1969 to 1975. One of the best defensive outfielders of his era, and "perhaps the finest" he had excellent range and was brilliant at tracking fly balls. He challenged hitters by playing shallow, then running down balls hit over his head. In 1984, Blair was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.
Blair was born on February 1, 1944, in Cushing, Oklahoma but grew up in Los Angeles where he attended Manual Arts High School. An accomplished athlete, he played basketball, baseball and ran track and was a high jumper while a student. In 1961, he was selected Helms All-Southern California League as a second baseman.
Blair was originally signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1961 as a shortstop, but moved himself to the outfield. After spending the 1962 season in their farm system, he was selected by the Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft on November 26, 1962. He played in Baltimore's minor league system in 1963 and 1964, and came up to the Orioles for the first time on September 9, 1964, at only 20 years old.
In 1962, he played for the Mets Class C affiliate, the Santa Barbara Rancheros. He had a .228 batting average, with 17 home runs, 63 runs batted in (RBI), and 69 runs scored in 417 at bats. In 114 games in the outfield, he had a .963 fielding percentage, with 20 assists and seven double plays. In 1963, he played for the Single-A Stockton Ports in the Orioles' farm system, batting .324, with 126 runs scored, 60 stolen bases, 16 home runs, 77 RBI and a .906 OPS (on-base plus slugging). He was fourth in the California League in batting average among players with more than 450 at bats, tied for second in runs scored and was second in stolen bases.
Blair began the 1964 season with the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, but played the majority of the season with the Double-A Elmira Pioneers. After hitting only .130 in Rochester, Blair had a .311 batting average in Elmira, leading the Eastern League in hitting. He also led the Eastern League with 34 stolen bases. He had a .981 fielding percentage in the outfield with 10 assists and only five errors. The Orioles called Blair up in September, and he played in his first Major League Game on September 9, 1964, appearing as a pinch runner. He appeared in eight games for the Orioles that September, with only one plate appearance.
He broke into the Orioles' lineup in 1965 and started in center field on opening day. Despite hitting only .234 in 364 at bats, with five home runs and 25 runs batted in, Blair impressed many with his defensive skills. He had the highest fielding percentage among all Major League center fielders and the second best fielding percentage among all outfielders (.992), behind only Rocky Colavito who had a perfect 1.000 in right field. The 21-year old Blair started 79 games in center field, with Jackie Brandt starting 32 and Russ Snyder starting 33.
The Orioles traded Brandt in December 1965, as a precursor to the Orioles acquiring future Hall of Fame right fielder Frank Robinson for the 1966 season. In 1966, the right-handed hitting Blair platooned in center field with the left-handed hitting Snyder. Blair batted .277, with six home runs, 33 RBIs, and 35 runs in 303 at bats. The Orioles team, led by 1966 AL Most Valuable Player and Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson, won the American League pennant by nine games, and then won the 1966 World Series in a four game sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Games 3 and 4 of that series, Blair played a major role in 1–0 shutouts by Wally Bunker and Dave McNally respectively. He hit a 430-foot home run off Claude Osteen in Game 3, and robbed Jim Lefebvre of an eighth-inning home run that would have tied Game 4. Blair also caught Lou Johnson's fly ball for the final out of the Series.
In 1967, Blair became the Orioles fulltime center fielder. He started 139 games in center field, and had a .985 fielding percentage. He led all Major League center fielders with 373 putouts and 13 assists. He also won the first of his eight Gold Glove Awards. As a hitter, Blair established a career high .293 batting average with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs, along with an American League-leading 12 triples. He was 16th in 1967 AL Most Valuable Player voting.
Blair slumped to .211 in 1968, and started in only 100 games; but still had a .993 fielding percentage in center field. Blair had perhaps his best season in 1969. Batting second behind Don Buford in the Orioles' lineup, he hit .285 with career highs in home runs (26), runs batted in (76) and runs (102). His 26 homers along with 20 stolen bases made him the first Orioles player to achieve at least 20 in each category in the same season. He also made the All-Star team for the first time; he would repeat this feat in 1973. In 1969, he had a .988 fielding percentage and led all Major League outfielders with 407 putouts. His five double plays tied for the Major League lead among center fielders with Clarence "Cito" Gaston. He was 11th in 1969 AL Most Valuable Player voting.
The 1969 Orioles won the pennant, with Blair becoming the first player to have 5 hits in a post-season game. He had five hits in six at-bats against the Minnesota Twins on October 6. The Orioles lost to the Miracle Mets in the World Series. Blair went 2-for-20 in that Series, including being the victim of one of Tommie Agee's two spectacular catches in Game 3 (Agee had also robbed Elrod Hendricks earlier in the game). On that Agee catch, Blair was the first batter Nolan Ryan faced in a World Series—the only World Series game the Hall of Fame pitcher would participate in. One of Blair's two hits came in the seventh inning of Game 2; it broke up Jerry Koosman's bid for a no-hitter.
Blair was beaned by Ken Tatum in the eighth inning of a 6–1 loss to the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium on May 31, 1970. He sustained a broken nose, orbital floor fractures below his left eye and a broken cheekbone. The beaning was unintentional. Tatum had grazed Boog Powell on the wrist immediately before hitting Blair, evidencing control problems that day. Tatum wrote a letter a few days later to the Orioles player representative Brooks Robinson apologizing for hitting Powell and Blair, telling the Orioles it was not intentional, and expressing how upset he was over hitting Blair and his deep concern for Blair. Blair returned to the starting lineup three weeks later, finishing the season batting .267.
On the season in 1970, Blair led the Orioles in stolen bases (24), tied for third on the team in home runs (18), and was fifth in runs (79) and RBIs (65). The Orioles went on to win the World Series that year. After going 1-for-13 in the 1970 American League Championship Series against the Minnesota Twins, he had the 1970 World Series' highest batting average and on-base percentage with .474 and .524 respectively, against the Cincinnati Reds. He also had a 1.050 OPS, five runs and three RBIs. He shared with Series MVP Brooks Robinson the five-game World Series record with nine hits apiece.
In 1971, Blair took up switch-hitting but stopped after batting only .193 (11-for-57); after having trouble hitting curveballs and changeups. He finished the season hitting .262, with 10 home runs, 44 RBIs and 75 runs. His Orioles won another pennant, but lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games. Blair started two of the three games (Games 1 and 3) in the Orioles three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics in the 1971 American League Championship series. He was 3-for-9 in that series, and drove in the game-winning runs with a double in the seventh inning of Game 1 against Vida Blue.