Baltimore Orioles

He broke into the Orioles' lineup in 1965 and, despite hitting only .234 with five home runs and 25 runs batted in, impressed many with his defensive skills. In 1966 he batted .277 on an Orioles team that won the World Series. In Games 3 and 4 of that series, which the Frank Robinson-led Orioles swept from the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in four games, Blair played a major role in 1–0 shutouts by Wally Bunker and Dave McNally respectively, hitting a 430-foot home run off Claude Osteen in Game 3, and robbing Jim Lefebvre of an eighth-inning home run that would have tied Game 4. Blair also caught Lou Johnson's fly ball for the final out of the Series.

Blair in 1966

In 1967 Blair established a career high .293 batting average with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs, along with an American League-leading 12 triples. He also won the first of his eight Gold Glove Awards. After slumping to .211 in 1968, Blair had perhaps his best season in 1969. Batting second behind Don Buford in the Orioles' lineup, he hit .285 with career highs in home runs (26), runs batted in (76) and runs (102). His 26 homers along with 20 stolen bases made him the first Orioles player to achieve at least 20 in each category in the same season.^[9] He also made the All-Star team for the first time; he would repeat this feat in 1973. His Orioles won the pennant, with Blair becoming the first player to have 5 hits in a post-season game, with 5 hits in 6 at-bats against the Minnesota Twins on October 6.^[10] The Orioles lost to the Miracle Mets in the World Series. Blair went 2-for-20 in that Series, including being the victim of one of Tommie Agee's two spectacular catches in Game 3 (Agee had also robbed Elrod Hendricks earlier in the game). On that Agee catch, Blair was the first batter Nolan Ryan faced in a World Series—the only World Series game the Hall of Fame pitcher would participate in. One of Blair's two hits came in the seventh inning of Game 2; it broke up Jerry Koosman's bid for a no-hitter.

Blair was beaned by Ken Tatum in the eighth inning of a 6–1 loss to the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium on May 31, 1970.^[11] He sustained a broken nose, orbital floor fractures below his left eye and a broken cheekbone.^[12] The beaning was unintentional, as Tatum had grazed the jersey front of the previous batter Boog Powell.^[11] Blair returned to the starting lineup three weeks later,^[13] finishing the season batting .267. After going 1 for 13 in the American League Championship Series,^[14] he had the World Series' highest batting average and on-base percentage with .474 and .524 respectively and shared with Series MVP Brooks Robinson the five-game Fall Classic record with nine hits apiece.^[15] Jim Palmer wrote that "ever since he got hit by a pitch, he isn't the hitter he was."^[16]

In 1971 Blair took up switch-hitting but stopped after batting only .193 (11-for-57). He finished the season hitting .262. His Orioles won another pennant, but lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

During the 1971 World Series, Blair earned a place in baseball history in Game 4 by being the first man to bat in a World Series night game. Leading off the top of the first inning, Blair singled off Pittsburgh's Luke Walker.

Blair's speed going back in the outfield enabled him to play shallow, and make catches à la Willie Mays. In each of the Orioles' three straight World Series seasons, Blair won a Gold Glove. He also won a Gold Glove over each of the next four seasons, his last Gold Glove in 1975 coinciding with teammate Brooks Robinson winning his 16th consecutive — and last — Gold Glove at third base.

New York Yankees

Blair was traded by the Orioles to the New York Yankees for Elliott Maddox and Rick Bladt on January 20, 1977. The transaction was driven by general manager Gabe Paul's desire to exile Maddox from the Yankees. Blair was primarily a defensive outfielder replacement in the late innings.^[17] On June 18 of that year in a nationally televised game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, he was tangentially involved in one of the most bizarre scenes in baseball history. Yankee manager Billy Martin took right fielder Reggie Jackson out of the game and replaced him with Blair after Jackson had misplayed Jim Rice's fly ball for a double. As the cameras watched, Jackson and Martin nearly came to blows. Blair's walk-off RBI single to left off Rick Rhoden won Game 1 of the 1977 World Series for the Yankees.^[18]

Actor Seth Gilliam played Blair in one episode of the ESPN mini-series The Bronx Is Burning. The mini-series chronicled the 1977 Yankees season.

Cincinnati Reds and second Yankees stint

After winning World Series titles with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978, Blair was released early in the 1979 season. The Cincinnati Reds signed him as a free agent less than a month later, and Blair returned to the Yankees in May of 1980. He retired after the Yankees released him a second time, on July 1 of that year.

Career summary

In his 17-year career, Blair, whose nickname, "Motormouth", came from his talkative nature, batted .250 with 134 home runs and 620 RBI, 1513 hits and 171 stolen bases in 1947 games played. He was also one of the top bunters in the game, recording at least 10 sacrifice hits four times in his career, including 17 during the 1975 season.

Palmer loved having Blair in the outfield because of his fielding ability. In his 1996 book Palmer and Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine, he reminisced about the time Weaver gave him three batting lineups to choose from for a game. "I'm looking basically for one thing," Palmer wrote. "Center field. We've got Paul Blair, who I personally think can field anything." According to Palmer, Blair caught 12 fly balls that night.^[19] Palmer also thought Blair "was worth two runs, defensively, every game."^[20]