- Vida Blue
:"This article is about Vida Blue, the baseball pitcher. For information on the
jam band of the same name, seeVida Blue (band) . Infobox MLB retired
name=Vida Blue
caption=An autographed Vida Blue 1981 "Fleer " baseball card
position=Pitcher
bats=Switch
throws=Left
birthdate=birth date and age|1949|7|28
city-state|Mansfield|Louisiana
debutdate=July 20
debutyear=by|1969
debutteam=Oakland Athletics
finaldate=October 2
finalyear=by|1986
finalteam=San Francisco Giants
stat1label=Win-Loss record
stat1value=209-161
stat2label=Earned run average
stat2value=3.27
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=2,175
teams=
*Oakland Athletics (by|1969-by|1977)
*San Francisco Giants (by|1978-by|1981, by|1985-by|1986)
*Kansas City Royals (by|1982-by|1983)
highlights=
* 6x All-Star selection (1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981)
* 3xWorld Series champion (1972, 1973, 1974)
* 1971AL MVP
* 1971AL Cy Young Award
* 1971AL TSN Pitcher of the Year
* 1978NL TSN Pitcher of the Year Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. (born
July 28 ,1949 , inMansfield, Louisiana ) is a formerMajor League Baseball left-handedstarting pitcher . In his 17-year career, he played for theOakland Athletics ,San Francisco Giants , andKansas City Royals .Baseball career
In by|1970, after spending the season in the
minor leagues with theIowa Oaks of theAmerican Association , Blue was called up in September and made two starts that provided a glimpse of what was to come for the 21-year old. OnSeptember 11 , he shut out theKansas City Royals 3-0, giving up only one hit, to Pat Kelly in the eighth inning. Ten days later, he no-hit theMinnesota Twins , 6-0, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The lone baserunner came onHarmon Killebrew 's fourth-inning walk. The no-hitter capped a season that witnessed four no-hitters.Blue was a
southpaw power pitcher. He possessed a breaking curveball that he threw on occasion and an above average change-up, but his signature pitch was a blistering fastball that dialed up to nearly 100 miles per hour. [cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877278-2,00.html |title=A Bolt of Blue Lightning |accessdate=2008-08-11 |work= |publisher="TIME Magazine " |date= 1971-08-23 ] Baseball historianBill James cited Blue to be the hardest-throwing lefty, and the second hardest thrower of his era, finishing only behindNolan Ryan . [cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1822135&type=story |title=The Mighty Fastball |accessdate=2008-08-11 |work=Bill James |publisher="espn.com" |date= 2004-06-15 ]Blue had a 24-8 record in 1971, winning both the Cy Young and MVP awards, making him the latest starting pitcher in major league baseball history to win an MVP award in either league. [cite web |url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bluevi01.shtml |title=Vida Blue Statistics |accessdate=2008-08-11 |work= |publisher="baseball-reference.com" |date= ] He was the youngest American League player in the 20th Century to win the MVP Award. [Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0] He was the starting pitcher for the
American League in the 1971 All-Star Game, and for theNational League in the 1978 All-Star Game.Blue won 20 games in 1973 as he led the Athletics to the World Championship that year.
In 1976, baseball commissioner
Bowie Kuhn vetoed an attempt to sell Blue to theNew York Yankees and in 1977, Kuhn cancelled an attempted trade of Blue to theCincinnati Reds . In both instances, Kuhn said the trades would be bad for baseball because they would have benefitted already powerful teams without making them give up any significant talent in return.In 1978, Blue won 18 games as he led the Giants to 83 wins as they battled all year for the
National League West Division which was won that year by theLos Angeles Dodgers . His great year was rewarded as he won theSporting News National League Pitcher Of The Year. He was also the last player beforeIchiro Suzuki to wear hisgiven name on the back of his uniform instead of hissurname , having done so with the Giants.Blue battled drug addiction over the course of baseball career. After the 1983 season, he and former teammates, Willie Wilson,
Jerry Martin andWillie Aikens , pleaded guilty to attempting to purchasecocaine . In 1985, he testified in the scandalousPittsburgh drug trials .Blue also made a name and career after baseball for himself in the
San Francisco Bay Area by donating his time to many charitable causes, mostly promotingbaseball in theinner city .Career statistics
"Pitching"
ee also
*
Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
*List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
*List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
*Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time
*List of Major League Baseball no-hitters References
External links
*baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br= |fangraphs=1001094 |cube=B/vida-blue
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