1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #57 "Cy" Blanton

Sunday, August 1, 2021

#57 "Cy" Blanton - Pittsburgh Pirates

Darrell Elijah Blanton
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher

Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 180
Born: July 6, 1908, Waurika, OK
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1934-1939; Philadelphia Phillies 1940-1942

Died: September 13, 1945, Norman, OK (37)

Cy Blanton's finest season came during his rookie year of 1935, when he went 18-13 with a 2.58 ERA in 35 games for the fourth place Pirates. He won 13, 14 and 11 games over the next three seasons but never came close to duplicating the efforts from that first break-out year. Blanton made his first All-Star team in 1937, and went on to lead the league in games started with 34. He faced only one batter in that All-Star Game, striking out Joe DiMaggio (#126). Blanton suffered irreparable elbow damage in 1939 after throwing a complete game no-hitter in an exhibition game on Easter Sunday against the Indians. He was never the same pitcher. Blanton signed with the Phillies in May 1940, and he'd play his final three big league seasons with the club. In 1941, pitching for a Phillies team that would ultimately lose 111 games, Blanton was the team's sole All-Star Game representative, although he wouldn't appear in the game. He struggled with the Phillies and was released in June 1942 after a stint in the hospital with a kidney ailment.

Blanton signed with the Philadelphia Athletics in spring 1943, but didn't report to the team and was released. He ultimately landed with the independent Hollywood Stars in the Pacific Coast League, where he appeared in 38 games in 1943 and 1944. Suffering from alcoholism, Blanton was suspended from the Stars and returned home to Oklahoma. In August 1945 he was admitted to the Central Oklahoma State Hospital for the mentally ill and he passed away in September due to cirrhosis of the liver and toxic psychosis.

Building the Set

July 16, 2021 from Port Washington, NY (Clean Sweep Auctions) - Card #20

A boring virtual work meeting got the best of me in mid-July and I found myself browsing eBay for reasonably priced cards to add to my slowly growing Diamond Stars set. I have no rhyme or reason as to how I'm collecting this set, and I imagine I'll get to the point where all I need are the pricey Hall of Fame cards of the more well known players. For this particular mission however, I set out searching for commons, relatively speaking, and semi-stars and I happily came away with four new cards. Three cards, including this Blanton card, came from Clean Sweep Auctions in Port Washington, New York, and a fourth card came separately from eBay seller booklyn426 from, appropriately enough, Brooklyn. It's been slow-going building this set, and that's honestly what I expected. With my disposable income focused on building our 1965 Topps set, and with decent cards from the Diamond Stars set averaging $30 to $40 a piece, I'm happy to take my time and enjoy what could be a lengthy journey.

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright

The Card / Pirates Team Set

This is easily Blanton's most well-known and popular baseball card appearance. The tip on the back implores pitchers to use off speed pitches to keep batters off balance, and stresses the importance of locating pitches off the plate in the hope a batter will chase. His won-loss total while pitching for the Double-A Albany Senators is listed on the bottom instead of his 0-1 record from his one game with the Pirates in 1934.

1935 Season

In his finest season, Blanton was by far the Pirates' best pitcher and starred with shortstop Arky Vaughan (#151) as the team's top players. He used an effective fastball with a steady mix of off speed pitches to make him one of the hardest to hit pitchers in the National League. Blanton won the league's ERA title with a 2.58 mark and he owned the league's highest WAR (7.2) for pitchers. He threw 23 shutouts and four shutouts, which tied him for the league lead with four other pitchers.

Phillies Career

Blanton pitched for three seasons with the Phillies, with the club losing at least 100 games in each season and finishing in last place in the league. He was one of the only semi-effective pitchers for a bad, bad team.

He suffered another elbow injury in 1940, but recovered and was the team's opening day starting pitcher in 1941. He returned to the club briefly in 1942 and was hit hard in most of his final six appearances that year. In 47 total games with the Phillies, Blanton was 10-20 with a 4.55 ERA over 263 innings pitched.