May 18, 1977 - Paul Blair

Before the New York Mets ever played a game, one of the amateur free agents the expansion team signed in July 1961 was Paul Blair, then a recently-graduated high school shortstop.

Blair, who passed away unexpectedly in 2013 at the age of 69, once recalled his first workout with a group of other Mets prospects. “The first day the coach told us to run out to our positions,” Paul said. “Well, seven players went to shortstop and six went to second, but only one went to right. I knew I could throw better than him and run better than him. So I ran out to right and played there. Then the center fielder got hurt and I moved to center.”

The rest was, as they say, is history. Blair spent one year in the low minors in the Mets still-evolving farm system, but was left unprotected in 1962 and the Orioles picked him in the first-year draft, and away his career went. By 1965 he was in Baltimore for good, and in 13 seasons with the Orioles, Blair became one of the American League’s best center fielders.

As the Orioles were winning four AL pennants and two World Series titles between 1966 and 1971, Blair won four of his eight Gold Glove awards and earned one of his two All-Star Game invitations. As an Oriole, Blair batted .254 with 126 home runs and 567 RBI and his career fielding percentage was .980.

He came to New York in January 1977 in a trade that sent outfielders Elliott Maddox and Rick Bladt to Baltimore, and Blair became a valuable backup for the Yankees World Series championship teams in 1977 and 1978.

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