Walk it off

Out-of-towners should let Blass comment go

Steve Blass has demonstrated that the best way to handle a minor social media stir is to ignore it — and what briefly bubbled up recently for the Pirates broadcast veteran was indeed minor.

After Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. got hit by a pitch at PNC Park on June 4, Mr. Blass criticized him for glaring at pitcher Steven Brault — and for wearing too much jewelry. Players didn’t dress like that “back in the day,” he said, seeming to imply that those who did might deserve any stray pitch coming their way.

Since Mr. Acuña was the one in some pain, Mr. Blass’s observation wasn’t exactly gracious, but it certainly wasn’t racism either, not even the “dogwhistle” variety a couple of tweeters ridiculously claimed.

The New York Post dug up a similar

anti-”flash” comment Mr. Blass made in 2017. The harshest assessment you could make of all this is that, at 77, Mr. Blass may be trying out a “grumpy old man” routine. But any human of any age processing life out loud, in real time, is going to have an occasional bad moment.

Similarly, media outlets have a news cycle to fill, eyeballs to attract, clicks to count, so they desperately seek anything that might gain traction. Criticism from one out-of-town newspaper and a couple of websites most of us have never heard of do not amount to a national dust-up, though, so we can be grateful Mr. Blass declined to feed the monster.

As he wraps up his long career with the Pirates — first as a World Series champion pitcher, later as a broadcaster, with all the public ups and downs — we wish Steve Blass well.