Watch the Bucs' 1971 World Series G7 triumph

PITTSBURGH -- Right after Frank Robinson slid across home plate to send the 1971 World Series to a decisive Game 7, Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh turned to Steve Blass and said, simply, “Tag, you’re it.”

The series, and Pittsburgh’s season, would be in Blass’ hands on Oct. 17, 1971.

Nearly 49 years later, Blass remembers every pitch -- even if he’s still not sure exactly how many of them he threw that day -- and every moment from his complete-game 2-1 victory over the Orioles at Memorial Stadium. He’ll recall the way he encouraged Jackie Hernandez and Bob Robertson to record the final out, the delirium of the celebration on the field, the moments he shared with his father in the clubhouse and the hug he received from World Series MVP Roberto Clemente before the flight home.

The Pirates’ Game 7 triumph can be seen on pirates.com and MLB.com. Blass shared his memories from the season, the series and that unforgettable performance in a phone interview earlier this week, and those can be viewed on Twitter at @adamdberry.

“I will never forget that for the rest of my life," Blass said. "That stuff is gold. It’s gold. The charmed life that I led, capped off by that. ... I’ve got a boatload of unbelievable stuff, and that hug [from Clemente] is one of them.”

Clemente was named the World Series MVP after hitting .414 with two homers -- including a solo shot in Game 7 -- and four RBIs. The Hall of Fame right fielder and humanitarian earned those honors, playing what baseball writer Roger Angell described as “a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before -- throwing and running and hitting at something close to the level of perfection, playing to win but also playing the game as if it were a form of punishment for everyone else on the field.”

But it was Blass who almost singlehandedly led the Bucs to two victories. With the Orioles leading the series, 2-0, Blass took the mound for Game 3 and delivered an eight-strikeout complete game in Pittsburgh’s 5-1 win. The Pirates reeled off two more wins to pull ahead in the series, only for Baltimore to win Game 6.

Tag, you’re it.

Blass, a self-described “skinny kid from Falls Village, Connecticut,” answered the call with the performance of a lifetime. The right-hander allowed just four hits, outdueling 20-game winner Mike Cuellar before leaping into Robertson’s arms in celebration.

“Looking back, sometimes it feels surreal. I’m like, ‘God, did I really do something like that?’” Blass said. “Yeah. Yeah, I did. Damn it, I did.

“When I got into it, it’s hard to explain that bubble they talk about. Nothing was happening other than this machinery of [catcher Manny Sanguillen] putting down two fingers. I hardly ever shook him off. We had great rhythm. He would put down slider, and my brain would tell my arm and my body what to do. There was nothing else happening. There was no crowd, no vendors, nothing going on except that link between me and him.”

The Pirates’ roster was loaded with legends, from Clemente and Willie Stargell to Sanguillen and Blass. Their lineup led the National League in runs scored and home runs, although offense was at a premium in the final game of the Fall Classic.

“People say, ‘Boy, wasn’t it exciting winning 2-1 in the seventh game?’” Blass said. “I say, ‘Yeah, it would have been more exciting to win 10-1.’”

Nonetheless, it was the kind of game Blass envisioned when he grew up pitching to a yellow legal pad taped to the side of a barn. He cruised into the seventh inning of Game 7 without having given up a run before he allowed himself to take a stroll around the mound and let it all soak in. Then he scaled the mound and finished the job.

“It’s every kid’s dream,” he said.