REVERE – Pick just about any baseball game, any inning from any year and chances were former Revere High baseball coach Al Blasi could tell you who pitched, who caught, who was at bat, how he got, or how he scored.?Al had a mind like a Rolodex,” said Mike Cella, the former Revere High football coach. “I can?t believe how much knowledge had had about the game.”Blasi, who coached Revere High baseball for 43 years before retiring in 2007, died Saturday at a local nursing home at the age of 81.Cella, who pitched and played outfield for Blasi back in the mid-1960s, said his former coach put every ounce of his energy into coaching the team and he made the game fun.?He didn?t make it a job, or a chore, everyone enjoyed it,” Cella said. “He was a gentleman?s gentleman. I can?t say enough wonderful things about him. He was one of the most gracious guys I ever knew.”Blasi took over the program in 1964. He served as president of the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association (MBCA) and in 1997 was inducted into its Hall of Fame.Frank Carey coached at North Reading High for 49 years before retiring at the end of the 2014 season. Also a former president of the MBCA, Carey knew Blasi for many years, even though their teams never played each other or even scrimmaged together.?I knew Al in a baseball-coaching capacity,” Carey said. “He was a terrific guy, the most incredible guy you would ever want to meet. He was an easygoing, mild-mannered guy ? He was kind of the glue (for the MBCA) that all presidents are supposed to be.”Carey described Blasi as a diehard baseball guy who was old school in the sense he wasn?t much into gadgets.?He played baseball the way you?re supposed to play baseball. What a terrific guy he was,” Carey said.Former Revere High athletic director Robert Lospennato played baseball for Blasi back in the mid-1960s.?He was just a great guy. He had a profound affect on a lot of kids? lives in Revere,” Lospennato said. “He was well liked and very well respected in Revere, not only by the athletes, but by the administration. He was also a very good history teacher.”Vertuccio and Smith Funeral Home in Revere is handling the arrangements. Visiting hours will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by a funeral Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Revere at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Puritan Lawn Cemetery.