Steve Blass, Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Blurred Lines of Racial Verbiage in Baseball | THE MARK-UP

Steve Blass is as old school as it gets. At 77 years old, in his final season of broadcasting for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Blass is a firm believer in the unwritten rules. It defined his playing days-- step out of line or deviate from the norm in any way, and pay the price.

This is why Blass cannot relate to the modern game. He struggles, even from afar, to understand today's 25-year-old superstar, or even the audience, for that matter.

The Bucs broadcast booth has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in 2019. As a former Root Sports (now AT&T Sportsnet) intern, I'm greeted with mixed emotions when Blass or John Wehner speak out against the very marketing tactic MLB is pushing -- letting the kids play. It's been controversial at times, and an embarrassment at others.

On Tuesday, Blass made headlines for complaining about the jewelry worn by one Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuña, stating that back in his day, the former NL Rookie of the Year from Venezuela would've been drilled for the way he dresses. This context, or lack thereof from Blass himself, led many to question the former Pirates' pitcher's intentions, and rightfully so. Blass is an old, white man in a time when baseball is pushing diversity. The easy opinion is to call Blass out, and suggest he symbolizes the worst in this country, but that's a narrow view of a very complicated story.

Blass played for the Pirates for a full decade from 1964-74. This was a time period which featured a Bucs World Series team and elite talent such as Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen and Al Oliver, just to name a few.

The Pirates were more diverse than any team in the majors, and that led to obvious clubhouse issues in their early days. From Oliver's account, Blass helped considerably in mending necessary fences.

Pittsburgh media has had a field day with what they perceive as hot takes from PC culture outsiders. This, also, is an unfair assessment.

Broadcasters are judged firmly by their words -- it's literally what they do. And despite being in his final season, Blass has spent enough time perfecting his craft that if he's truly being honest with himself, he'd agree he should've worded his argument better, or avoided the topic altogether.

This doesn't make Blass a racist, but it absolutely does make him unrelatable to a younger generation trying oh so hard to make up for the sins of their forefathers. This includes baseball, a sport we conveniently tote as America's game only when it suits us, but not when it allows us to have an actual, real-life discussion about a topic which impacts each and every one of us.

I've known Steve Blass, at one point in my life. From my very common, extraordinarily narrow perspective, he's been misunderstood. But when it's literally your job to communicate a game to the public and you fail miserably at it, simply casting this off as unfair outrage is a simplistic mindset that does more harm than good. Don't push this conversation to the side any longer.