Armed with a flashy identify, an electrical persona and an iconic supply he used to unleash a blazing fastball, Vida Blue was as distinctive as a baseball participant may very well be.
Blue, who died at age 73 late Saturday night, was an All Star for each the A’s and Giants throughout a 17-year profession that included successful three consecutive World Collection titles throughout Oakland’s dynasty within the early Seventies.
Blue’s demise was confirmed by the A’s on Sunday morning. No reason behind demise was introduced, though mates mentioned he had been battling an undisclosed sort of most cancers.
“There are few gamers with a extra embellished profession than Vida Blue,” the A’s mentioned in a press release. “He was a three-time champion, an MVP, a six-time All-Star, a Cy Younger Award winner, and an Oakland A’s Corridor of Famer. Vida will at all times be a franchise legend and a buddy. We ship our deepest condolences to his household and mates throughout this arduous time.”
Former A’s star Dave Stewart, who helped pitch the A’s to their final world championship in 1989, posted a tribute to Blue on Twitter because the information of his demise was revealed.
Vida Blue relaxation in peace, my mentor, hero, and buddy. I bear in mind watching a 19 yr previous phenom dominate baseball, and on the similar time alter my life. There are not any phrases for what you could have meant to me and so many others. My coronary heart goes out to the Blue household🙏🏿🙏🏿
— Dave “Smoke” Stewart (@Dsmoke34) Could 7, 2023
“Vida Blue relaxation in peace, my mentor, hero, and buddy. I bear in mind watching a 19 yr previous phenom dominate baseball, and on the similar time alter my life. There are not any phrases for what you could have meant to me and so many others. My coronary heart goes out to the Blue household.”
Wanting frail and needing assist onto the sector, Blue appeared on the Oakland Coliseum on April 16 for the fiftieth reunion of the 1973 World Collection championship workforce. He's the third member of that workforce to cross away this yr, preceded by workforce captain and third baseman Sal Bando and reserve outfielder Jesus Alou.
“I do know he held on for that final anniversary celebration like absolutely the gamer he was,” A’s broadcaster Dallas Braden wrote on Twitter.
A six-time All-Star, Blue made three All-Star appearances every for the A’s and Giants on his method to successful 209 video games in a profession that featured one of many biggest particular person seasons in baseball historical past.
Giants president Larry Baer precisely described Blue as “a Bay Space baseball icon for over 50 years.”
In 1971, as a 21-year-old with 10 main league begins underneath his belt, Blue went 24-8 with a whopping 301 strikeouts and a 1.82 earned run common to assist the A’s attain the postseason for the primary time in 40 years. That efficiency earned him each the American League’s Cy Younger Award in addition to its Most Worthwhile Participant award. A half-century later, he stays the youngest MVP in baseball historical past.
The primary half of the ’71 season, throughout which Blue went 17-3, made him an immediate star. All of a sudden, the fresh-faced child from Mansfield, Louisiana and his distinctive, crouching, high-kneed windup had been showing on the covers of magazines reminiscent of Time, Ebony and Jet. He was a visitor on nationwide tv reveals reminiscent of Dick Cavett’s. He even joined Bob Hope on his USO Christmas Tour in Vietnam.
“The A’s obtained greater crowds on the Coliseum when he pitched they usually bought out the ballpark everywhere in the league,” mentioned Giants broadcaster Jon Miller, who grew up within the East Bay and known as A’s video games in 1974. “When he pitched in Fenway Park for the primary time, you couldn’t get a ticket. The scalpers had been in heaven.”
President Richard Nixon was so enamored with Blue that he insisted Vida and the A’s go to him on the White Home in the midst of the ’71 season. It was there that Nixon, taking discover of Blue’s $14,750 wage, foreshadowed bother by declaring to him: “You should be probably the most underpaid participant within the sport.”
That unforgettable season not solely thrust Blue into the nationwide highlight, it made the left-hander the reply to maybe the best sports activities trivia query: Who was the final switch-hitter to be named A.L. MVP?
An announcement from the Oakland A's on the passing of Vida Blue. pic.twitter.com/fAMIU7MHCO
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) Could 7, 2023
Vida Rochelle Blue was the primary of six youngsters born to Sallie and Vida Blue Sr. As he grew up within the tiny Louisiana city of lower than 5,000, Vida’s bodily prowess grew to become unimaginable to disregard.
His highschool, DeSoto, didn’t have a baseball workforce. The principal cobbled one collectively so Vida may pitch. He was recruited as a soccer quarterback by the College of Houston at a time when there have been few Black gamers on the place at main schools.
He was inclined to play soccer, however throughout his senior yr his father died. Feeling the necessity to present for his mom and siblings, Blue signed a two-year, $12,500 contract with the A’s, who had chosen him within the second spherical of the 1967 draft.
Vida flew by the minors, reaching the majors in Oakland as a 19-year-old on the finish of 1969. After spending a lot of 1970 within the minors, he got here again to Oakland in September and threw each a one-hitter and a no-hitter, assuring he’d by no means once more pitch within the minor leagues.
Vida Blue (21 years previous) dealing with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell & Willie McCovey on the 1971 All Star Recreation. pic.twitter.com/jAoKXU79Hc
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 20, 2023
After his magical 1971 season, Blue waged a bitter wage holdout the next spring with A’s proprietor Charlie Finley. Throughout his holdout, Blue took a job as a plumbing government for a neighborhood firm with a purpose to earn cash.
He didn’t be a part of the workforce till Could 2, and didn’t pitch till Could 24. Although he helped the A’s to a few World Collection titles, and turned in two extra 20-win seasons, he was by no means once more the joyous pitching prodigy of 1971.
The gregarious Blue was one of many first gamers to ever put on his first identify as an alternative of his surname on the again of his jersey. The A’s proprietor Finley tried to capitalize on Vida’s recognition much more by providing him cash to legally change his identify to Vida “True” Blue.
It was by no means a suggestion Blue even thought of.
In 1978 Vida was traded to the Giants for seven gamers and $300,000. “My response was: ‘Free eventually, free eventually, thank God almighty I’m free eventually,’ “ he mentioned.
Blue loved success in San Francisco from 1978-81, successful 18 video games in ’78 and ending third within the N.L. Cy Younger vote. He was then traded to Kansas Metropolis in 1982.
Alas, that’s when his would-be Corridor of Fame profession was derailed by substance abuse points. It resulted in Blue being imprisoned after which suspended from baseball for the 1984 season after pleading responsible to cocaine possession.
In his autobiography, launched after his retirement, he indicated having had substance abuse points way back to 1972.
Blue was first eligible for induction into the Baseball Corridor of Fame in 1992. He appeared on the poll till 1995, by no means coming near incomes 75 % of the votes solid that’s required for entry into the corridor. His highest complete was the 8.7 % he acquired in 1993.
Vida’s profession numbers had been truly not far off from his previous A’s teammate, Catfish Hunter, whose 224 video games received and three.26 profession ERA had been much like Vida’s 209 wins and three.27 ERA. In 2001, famous baseball historian and analytics guru Invoice James rated Blue because the 86th greatest pitcher in MLB historical past.
Vida at all times believed his struggles with habit value him a shot at his dream of changing into a corridor of famer.
“Dammmmn. And I blew it,” Blue as soon as advised The Washington Put up. “That Corridor of Fame factor, that’s one thing that I can actually, overtly say I want I used to be a Corridor of Famer. And I do know for a truth this drug factor impeded my highway to the Corridor of Fame — to this point.”
It doesn't matter what was occurring in his life, he remained widespread with baseball followers on each side of the bay.
“It was good to be part of each groups,” he mentioned. “I used to be a fairly fortunate man to absorb the Bay Space.”
Blue is a member of the A’s Corridor of Fame and the Giants’ Wall of Fame. He was inducted into the Bay Space Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 1995. He served a few years as a neighborhood consultant for the Giants and was personally concerned in a number of charitable causes together with Northern Mild Faculty in Oakland.
“Vida Blue has been a Bay Space baseball icon for over 50 years,” Larry Baer, Giants President & Chief Govt Officer, mentioned in a press release launched by the workforce. “His impression on the Bay Space transcends his 17 years on the diamond with the affect he’s had on our neighborhood.”
Watch one of many final interviews with Vida Blue.