Vida Blue, former Oakland A’s, SF Giants star, dies at 73

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – MAY 31: Vida Blue, former Oakland Athletics pitcher and member of the 1972 World Series Championship team, is seen before an MLB game between the A’s and the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum in Oakland, California on Saturday interviewed. 4 June 2022. Blue and teammates from the 1972 World Series Championship were honored during a special ceremony to mark their 50th anniversary. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Armed with a flashy name, an electric personality and an iconic performance that unleashed a blazing fastball, Vida Blue was as distinctive as a baseball player can be.

Blue, who died late Saturday night at the age of 73, was a popular member of both the A’s and during a 17-year career that included winning three consecutive World Series titles during the Oakland dynasty in the early 1970s also the Giants.

Blue’s death was confirmed by the A’s on Sunday morning. No cause of death was announced, although friends said he was battling an unknown type of cancer.

“There are few players with a more successful career than Vida Blue,” the A’s said in a statement. “He was a three-time champion, MVP, six-time All-Star, Cy Young Award winner and Oakland A’s Hall of Famer. Vida will always be a franchise legend and friend. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.”

Former A’s star Dave Stewart, who helped lead the A’s to their final World Cup in 1989, posted a tribute to Blue on Twitter when news of his death broke.

Vida Blue rest in peace my mentor, hero and friend. I remember how a 19-year-old phenomenon dominated baseball while changing my life. There are no words for what you meant to me and so many others. My heart beats for the Blue family

— Dave “Smoke” Stewart (@Dsmoke34) May 7, 2023

“Vida Blue rest in peace my mentor, hero and friend. I remember how a 19-year-old phenomenon dominated baseball while changing my life. There are no words for what you meant to me and so many others. My heart beats for the Blue family.”

Blue’s last public appearance was at the Oakland Coliseum last month for the 50th anniversary reunion of the 1973 World A-winning team. He looked frail and needed help getting around. Blue became the third member of Oakland’s ’73 title team to die this year — former team captain and third baseman Sal Bando and reserve outfielder Jesus Alou died earlier this year.

A six-time All-Star pitcher, Blue made three All-Star appearances each for the A’s and Giants on his way to winning 209 games in a career that was one of the greatest seasons in baseball history.

Vida Blue, 1976. (AP Photo)

The longtime Bay Area fan favorite reached new heights in 1971 as a 21-year-old when he won 24-8 with a whopping 301 strikeouts and a 1.82 earned running average to help the A’s enter the postseason for the first time in 40 years to reach. This performance earned Blue both the American League’s Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player Award. In fact, he remains the youngest MVP in baseball history.

It also made Vida an instant star. Suddenly, the fresh-faced boy from Mansfield, Louisiana, with his unique, crouched, high-knee swagger, began appearing on the covers of magazines like Time, Ebony, and Jet. He has guest starred on national television shows such as Dick Cavett’s. He even joined Bob Hope on his USO Christmas tour in Vietnam.

President Richard Nixon was so in love with Blue that he insisted Vida and the A visit him at the White House in the middle of the ’71 season. There, Nixon, upon noticing Blue’s $14,750 salary, announced trouble by telling him, “You must be the most underpaid player in the game.”

That unforgettable season not only propelled Blue into the national spotlight, but also made the left-hander the answer to perhaps the biggest sporting trivia question: Who was the last switch-hitter to be named AL MVP?

A statement from the Oakland A’s on the death of Vida Blue. pic.twitter.com/fAMIU7MHCO

— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) May 7, 2023

Vida Rochelle Blue was the first of six children born to Sallie and Vida Blue Sr. Growing up in the tiny Louisiana town of fewer than 5,000 people, Vida’s physical abilities became obvious.

His high school, DeSoto, didn’t have a baseball team. The headmaster cobbled one together so Vida could open it. He was recruited by the University of Houston as a football quarterback when there were few blacks in the big colleges to hold that position.

He was inclined to play football, but during his senior year his father died. Feeling the need to provide for his mother and siblings, Blue signed a two-year, $12,500 contract with the A’s, who selected him in the second round of the 1967 draft.

Vida flew through the minors and reached the majors in Oakland in late 1969 as a 19-year-old. After spending much of 1970 in the minors, he returned to Oakland in September and threw both a one-hitter and a no-hitter and asserted that he would never play in the minor leagues again.

Vida Blue (21 years old) meets Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey at the 1971 All Star Game. pic.twitter.com/jAoKXU79Hc

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 20, 2023

After his magical 1971 season, Blue feuded with A’s owner Charlie Finley over a bitter wage denial the following spring. During his hiatus, Blue took a job as a plumber for a local company to make money.

He didn’t join the team until May 2nd and didn’t pitch until May 24th. Though he helped the A’s to three World Series titles and had two more 20-win seasons, he was never the happy pitching prodigy of 1971 again.

The sociable Blue was one of the first players to have his first name on the back of his shirt instead of his last name. The A’s owner, Finley, tried to capitalize on Vida’s popularity even more by offering him money to legally change his name to Vida “True” Blue.

It was never an offer that Blue had even considered.

In 1978, Vida was traded to the Giants for seven players and $300,000. “My reaction was, ‘Finally free, finally free, thank God I’m finally free,'” he said.

Blue was successful in San Francisco from 1978 to 1981, winning 18 games in 1878 and finishing third in the NL Cy Young vote. In 1982 he was transferred to Kansas City.

SAN FRANCISCO – MAY 11: Vida Blue #14 of the San Francisco Giants lands on a pitch during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Candlestick Park on May 11, 1985 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images)

Unfortunately, his Hall of Fame career was derailed by substance abuse issues. This resulted in Blue being imprisoned and then suspended from baseball for the 1984 season after pleading guilty to cocaine possession.

In his autobiography, published after his retirement, he stated that he had had substance abuse problems as early as 1972.

Blue was first eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. He appeared on the ballot until 1995, never getting anywhere near 75 percent of the votes cast required to enter the Hall. His highest total was the 8.7 percent he received in 1993.

Vida’s career stats were actually not far off those of his old A-Teammate Catfish Hunter, whose 224 games won and 3.26 career ERA were similar to Vida’s 209 wins and 3.27 ERA. In 2001, noted baseball historian and analytics guru Bill James Blue ranked him the 86th best pitcher in MLB history.

Vida always believed that his struggles with addictions cost him a shot at his dream of becoming a Hall of Famer.

“Damned. And I screwed it up,” Blue once told the Washington Post. “This Hall of Famer thing, that’s something I can honestly and frankly say I wish I was a Hall of Famer. And I know for a fact that this drug thing got in the way of my way into the Hall of Fame—until now.”

No matter what was going on in his life, he remained popular with baseball fans on both sides of the bay.

Vida Blue’s stint with the A’s and Giants was featured in Bay Area News Group’s Baseball Magazine in 2018. Illustration by Jeff Durham.

“It was nice to be part of both teams,” he said. “I was pretty lucky to record the Bay Area.”

Blue is a member of the A’s Hall of Fame and the Giants’ Wall of Fame. He was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. He served for many years as a community representative for the Giants and was personally involved with several charities, including Oakland’s Northern Light School.

“Vida Blue has been a Bay Area baseball icon for over 50 years,” Giants president and chief executive officer Larry Baer said in a statement released by the team. “His impact on the Bay Area surpasses his 17 years on the Diamond with the impact he had on our community.”