1949
Born July 28, 1949
Mansfield, LA, USA
Vida Blue Marquee
b. July 28, 1949 · Oakland Athletics 1969–1977, San Francisco Giants 1978–1981, 1985–1986, Kansas City Royals 1982–1983
In 1971 he started 39 games, finished 24 of them, threw 312 innings, struck out 301 and went 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA. He led the American League with eight shutouts. He won the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player award for that season, and he turned twenty-two in July of it.
Ten other men have taken both awards in one season and none was as young. He won 209 games over seventeen years with 2,175 strikeouts in 3,343 innings, and Oakland won the World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974 with him in the rotation. He started an All-Star Game for the American League in 1971 and 1975 and for the National League in 1978.
A federal cocaine case in Kansas City cost him the 1984 season, which he spent under suspension; his record runs from 1983 straight to 1985. He came back to San Francisco at thirty-five and pitched two more years. Four writers' ballots between 1992 and 1995 never gave him more than 37 votes of 423, and he died in May 2023.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 6 | 1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981 |
| The Sporting News All-Star | 2 | 1971, 1978 |
| The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year | 2 | 1971, 1978 |
| Cy Young Award | 1 | 1971 |
| Most Valuable Player | 1 | 1971 |
| Pitcher of the Month | 1 | 1978 |
| Player of the Week | 1 | 1976 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | OAK | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
| 1970 | OAK | 6 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .200 |
| 1971 | OAK | 39 | 102 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 63 | 0 | .118 |
| 1972 | OAK | 27 | 45 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 34 | 0 | .044 |
| 1973 | OAK | 38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1974 | OAK | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1975 | OAK | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1976 | OAK | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1977 | OAK | 38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1978 | SFG | 35 | 79 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 51 | 0 | .076 |
| 1979 | SFG | 37 | 83 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 35 | 0 | .120 |
| 1980 | SFG | 31 | 68 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 34 | 0 | .074 |
| 1981 | SFG | 18 | 35 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 0 | .200 |
| 1982 | KCR | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1983 | KCR | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1985 | SFG | 33 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 0 | .133 |
| 1986 | SFG | 28 | 43 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 20 | 0 | .093 |
| Career | — | 508 | 512 | 37 | 53 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 49 | 271 | 0 | .104 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | OAK | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 42.0 | 49 | 31 | 18 | 24 | 6.64 |
| 1970 | OAK | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 38.2 | 20 | 9 | 12 | 35 | 2.09 |
| 1971 | OAK | 24 | 8 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 312.0 | 209 | 63 | 88 | 301 | 1.82 |
| 1972 | OAK | 6 | 10 | 25 | 23 | 0 | 151.0 | 117 | 47 | 48 | 111 | 2.80 |
| 1973 | OAK | 20 | 9 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 263.2 | 214 | 96 | 105 | 158 | 3.28 |
| 1974 | OAK | 17 | 15 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 282.1 | 246 | 102 | 98 | 174 | 3.25 |
| 1975 | OAK | 22 | 11 | 39 | 38 | 1 | 278.0 | 243 | 93 | 99 | 189 | 3.01 |
| 1976 | OAK | 18 | 13 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 298.1 | 268 | 78 | 63 | 166 | 2.35 |
| 1977 | OAK | 14 | 19 | 38 | 38 | 0 | 279.2 | 284 | 119 | 86 | 157 | 3.83 |
| 1978 | SFG | 18 | 10 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 258.0 | 233 | 80 | 70 | 171 | 2.79 |
| 1979 | SFG | 14 | 14 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 237.0 | 246 | 132 | 111 | 138 | 5.01 |
| 1980 | SFG | 14 | 10 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 224.0 | 202 | 74 | 61 | 129 | 2.97 |
| 1981 | SFG | 8 | 6 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 124.2 | 97 | 34 | 54 | 63 | 2.45 |
| 1982 | KCR | 13 | 12 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 181.0 | 163 | 76 | 80 | 103 | 3.78 |
| 1983 | KCR | 0 | 5 | 19 | 14 | 0 | 85.1 | 96 | 57 | 35 | 53 | 6.01 |
| 1985 | SFG | 8 | 8 | 33 | 20 | 0 | 131.0 | 115 | 65 | 80 | 103 | 4.47 |
| 1986 | SFG | 10 | 10 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 156.2 | 137 | 57 | 77 | 100 | 3.27 |
| Career | — | 209 | 161 | 502 | 473 | 2 | 3343.1 | 2939 | 1213 | 1185 | 2175 | 3.27 |
On this day & linked events
2023
Died May 6, 2023
1969
Major-league debut: Vida Blue
Vida Blue made a major-league debut on July 20, 1969.
1970
Vida Blue's No-Hitter
Vida Blue threw a no-hitter for the Oakland Athletics against the Minnesota Twins on September 21, 1970, winning 6–0.
1973
Jim Bibby's No-Hitter
Jim Bibby threw a no-hitter for the Texas Rangers against the Oakland Athletics on July 30, 1973, winning 6–0.
1975
Oakland Athletics Combined No-Hitter, 1975
Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers threw a combined no-hitter for the Oakland Athletics against the California Angels on September 28, 1975, winning 5–0.
1980
Jerry Reuss's No-Hitter
Jerry Reuss threw a no-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants on June 27, 1980, winning 8–0.
1986
Final major-league game: Vida Blue
Vida Blue played a final major-league game on October 2, 1986.
Image: resedabear, CC BY 2.0