Former Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Vida Blue of Mansfield, Louisiana passed away on Sunday at the age of 73. Blue spent 17 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986. In addition to pitching for the Athletics, he was with the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals.
Career Statistics
Blue had an overall record of 209 wins and 161 losses with an earned run average of 3.27. In 502 games and 3343 1/3 innings pitched, he gave up 2939 hits, 1213 earned runs, 1185 walks and 263 home runs, to go along with 2175 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.23. Blue also had 143 complete games, 37 shutouts and two saves. The saves came in a 4-2 Athletics win over the Baltimore Orioles on August 23, 1969, and in a 4-3 Athletics win over the Orioles on June 9, 1975.
Magical 1971 Season
In 1971, Blue not only won the American League Cy Young Award, but was named the American League Most Valuable Player Award as well. He had a record of 24 wins and eight losses, and led the American League in earned run average (1.82), shutouts (eight), and strikeouts per nine innings (8.7). Blue was also an All-Star for the first of six times in his career. He also participated in the Mid Summer Classic in 1975 and 1977 while with the Athletics, and 1978, 1980, and 1981 while with the Giants.
Three-time World Series Champion
Blue was part of three straight Athletics teams that won the World Series from 1972 to 1974. Oakland beat the Cincinnati Reds in seven games in 1972, the New York Mets in seven games in 1973, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in 1974. Despite the regular season success, Blue only won one postseason game, and had an ordinary playoff earned run average of 4.31. Blue’s postseason win was game three of the 1973 American League Championship Series, in a 1-0 Athletics win over the Orioles. Blue pitched a complete game shutout where he only gave up two hits and zero walks, to go along with seven strikeouts.
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