OT: Vida Blue dead

[Tango Two]

Vida Blue, flamethrowing ace of A's dynasty, dies at 73

Vida Blue, a flamethrowing left-hander who became the youngest MVP in AL/NL history in 1971 and helped the Athletics win three straight World Series championships from 1972-74, died on Saturday. He was 73. "There are few players with a more decorated career than Vida Blue," the A's said in a

www.mlb.com

 

[Retired711]

Vida Blue, flamethrowing ace of A's dynasty, dies at 73

Vida Blue, a flamethrowing left-hander who became the youngest MVP in AL/NL history in 1971 and helped the Athletics win three straight World Series championships from 1972-74, died on Saturday. He was 73. "There are few players with a more decorated career than Vida Blue," the A's said in a

www.mlb.com

Charlie Finley, always an ***, tried to get Blue to change his first name to "True." I saw Blue pitch -- he could throw his fastball past anyone. He was born only two years before I was. It's always sad for me when someone I think of as a contemporary passes away.

 

[MADHAT1]

RIP
Vida was a major part of the A's dynasty on the early 1970s

 

[DJ Spanky]

I'm shocked, just looked him up and he's not in the Hall Of Fame? I remember in the early 70's he was absolutely dominant.

 

[RUhasarrived]

At one time (1972-1995),he was the answer to the question posed in bars all over of who was the last switch hitter to win the MVP.
Then,the late Ken Caminiti won in '96,followed by Jimmy Rollins in '07.

It's a tough call for me on Vida belonging in the HOF.
He does have a higher career Retrosheet rating than has Jack Morris.

 

[RUGuitarMan1]

RIP Vida Blue. I’m a lifelong Met fan but really liked those A’s teams from the early 70s.They were colorful and purposely unkept which fit that time and place perfectly.

 

[Knight Shift]

Charlie Finley, always an ***, tried to get Blue to change his first name to "True." I saw Blue pitch -- he could throw his fastball past anyone. He was born only two years before I was. It's always sad for me when someone I think of as a contemporary passes away.

As a youngster, for some reason I became a huge fan of the A's, including Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Phil Garner, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom, and others. I don't know if it is completely fair to say Finley was "always an ***." He certainly engendered controversy and vitriol with the league, his players and fans, but he was an innovator and successful.

 

[yesrutgers01]

Vida is HOF worthy- being a kid born in 1962- he is aguy I remember as dominate.

Weird thing as I look at his states- he had a deGrom/Goodin type season in 1971 and never seemed to be a power pitcher after- sort of like Frank Tannana - wonder how good both could have been with the ame medical we have now

 

[Retired711]

As a youngster, for some reason I became a huge fan of the A's, including Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Phil Garner, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom, and others. I don't know if it is completely fair to say Finley was "always an ***." He certainly engendered controversy and vitriol with the league, his players and fans, but he was an innovator and successful.

I met him--he was an ***. He never figured out how to market his team in the Bay Area. Attendance was weak even in the glory years. Indeed, he had to move from Kansas City because he couldn't figure out how to market there either. (Note that the Royals, the successor franchise in K.C., have been able to survive.) He picked the wrong place to move to; he promised Seattle the team and that would have been a better choice than going head to head with the Giants. He treated his players badly. (Do you remember his insistence on benching Mike Andrews, an infielder whom made an error in the 1973 Series) . He eventually tried to sell his stars for a lot of cash, and Bowie Kuhn felt he had to intervene to prevent Finley from looting the franchise. (I got to sit through the trial when Finley unsuccessfully sued Kuhn.)

But there's one thing I have to say for Finley -- he was an outstanding judge of baseball talent. The many stars you mention were all scouted by Finley.

 

[Knight Shift]

I met him--he was an ***. He never figured out how to market his team in the Bay Area. Attendance was weak even in the glory years. Indeed, he had to move from Kansas City because he couldn't figure out how to market there either. (Note that the Royals, the successor franchise in K.C., have been able to survive.) He picked the wrong place to move to; he promised Seattle the team and that would have been a better choice than going head to head with the Giants. He treated his players badly. (Do you remember his insistence on benching Mike Andrews, an infielder whom made an error in the 1973 Series) . He eventually tried to sell his stars for a lot of cash, and Bowie Kuhn felt he had to intervene to prevent Finley from looting the franchise. (I got to sit through the trial when Finley unsuccessfully sued Kuhn.)

But there's one thing I have to say for Finley -- he was an outstanding judge of baseball talent. The many stars you mention were all scouted by Finley.

Maybe because of my age and my lack of knowledge on what was going on locally with the A's, I missed all that, and reading up on him more recently, my take was he was always looking the the next way to make a quick buck by moving/selling his team. Not exactly a way to build loyalty with fans or players. Wasn't he instrumental in bringing the DH to MLB too? Of course, none of his "innovations" absolve him of being a terrible owner and boss. Sooooo, maybe I should back off my defense of him not being "always an ***."

 

[WhiteBus]

I see Vida Blue as a pitcher who had some phenomenal seasons but not a phenomenal HOF career. He lacked long term consistency

 

[Retired711]

Maybe because of my age and my lack of knowledge on what was going on locally with the A's, I missed all that, and reading up on him more recently, my take was he was always looking the the next way to make a quick buck by moving/selling his team. Not exactly a way to build loyalty with fans or players. Wasn't he instrumental in bringing the DH to MLB too? Of course, none of his "innovations" absolve him of being a terrible owner and boss. Sooooo, maybe I should back off my defense of him not being "always an ***."

He was an advocate of the DH and of playing World Series games at night. He was also an advocate of orange baseballs, the "designated runner," and awarding a bases on balls on three balls. (I understand the designated runner is now being tried in the minor leagues.) Before he moved his team to Oakland, he proposed moving it to Louisville. So he has a mixed legacy. But I can assure you that, as a person, he was an ***.

 

[Kbee3]

As a youngster, for some reason I became a huge fan of the A's, including Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Phil Garner, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom, and others.

It was probably because they were always losing.

 

[RUPete]

Vida is HOF worthy- being a kid born in 1962- he is aguy I remember as dominate.

Weird thing as I look at his states- he had a deGrom/Goodin type season in 1971 and never seemed to be a power pitcher after- sort of like Frank Tannana - wonder how good both could have been with the ame medical we have now

That’s a good point. I often think about that with pro football players whose careers ended very early when I was growing up. Both pitchers were still very productive throughout the rest of their careers, but not quite as dominant.

 

[Colbert17!]

Vida Blue was a dominant lefty in the 70s. Always struck me as being a great athlete who probably could have been successful in almost all sports.
It was cool to be an A's fan then because with the long hair, beards, moustaches and multi colored and combo uniforms they were looked at as the rebels in a very straight laced world. They were a fun team to watch.

R.I.P.

 

[Colbert17!]

Do you remember his insistence on benching Mike Andrews, an infielder whom made an error in the 1973 Series

For people unfamiliar with the story , this is from Andrew's Wiki page.

In Game 2 of the 1973 World Series between the Oakland A's and the New York Mets, Andrews committed two errors in a four-run twelfth inning, leading to a Mets' 10–7 victory. With two outs and the Mets leading 7–6, John Milner's ground ball went through Andrews' legs for the first error, allowing Tug McGraw and Willie Mays to score. One batter later, Jerry Grote hit a ground ball to Andrews, whose throw to first pulled Gene Tenace off the bag for the second error, which allowed Cleon Jones to score. Oakland owner Charlie Finley forced him to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured, thus making him ineligible to play for the rest of the series. Andrews' teammates and manager Dick Williams rallied to Andrews's defense, including placing his number "17" onto their uniforms with athletic tape as a display of solidarity.[7] Finally, commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced Finley to reinstate Andrews. He entered Game 4 in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter to a standing ovation from sympathetic Mets fans. Andrews promptly grounded out, and Finley ordered him benched for the remainder of the Series. He was given his unconditional release on November 1, eleven days after the A's won its second straight World Series title.[8] Andrews never played another major league game.

 

[Vlife]

As a youngster, for some reason I became a huge fan of the A's, including Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Phil Garner, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom, and others. I don't know if it is completely fair to say Finley was "always an ***." He certainly engendered controversy and vitriol with the league, his players and fans, but he was an innovator and successful.

I think my first glove was a (handed-down) Joe Rudi signed model

 

[Retired711]

For people unfamiliar with the story , this is from Andrew's Wiki page.

In Game 2 of the 1973 World Series between the Oakland A's and the New York Mets, Andrews committed two errors in a four-run twelfth inning, leading to a Mets' 10–7 victory. With two outs and the Mets leading 7–6, John Milner's ground ball went through Andrews' legs for the first error, allowing Tug McGraw and Willie Mays to score. One batter later, Jerry Grote hit a ground ball to Andrews, whose throw to first pulled Gene Tenace off the bag for the second error, which allowed Cleon Jones to score. Oakland owner Charlie Finley forced him to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured, thus making him ineligible to play for the rest of the series. Andrews' teammates and manager Dick Williams rallied to Andrews's defense, including placing his number "17" onto their uniforms with athletic tape as a display of solidarity.[7] Finally, commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced Finley to reinstate Andrews. He entered Game 4 in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter to a standing ovation from sympathetic Mets fans. Andrews promptly grounded out, and Finley ordered him benched for the remainder of the Series. He was given his unconditional release on November 1, eleven days after the A's won its second straight World Series title.[8] Andrews never played another major league game.

Thanks for the details. I said above that Charlie Finley was an ***, but I didn't remember that he was *this* much of an ***!

 

[RUShea]

Was also the inspiration for a pretty cool band. They had no name until Vida himself jumped on stage and they decided to change the name to Vida Blue. True story.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

As a youngster, for some reason I became a huge fan of the A's, including Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Phil Garner, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom, and others. ...

kids are natural front-runner fans. you can look at what year it was when they turned 10 and have a pretty good guess what non-home-team they might have followed. Standard choices are the name brands.

I succumbed to the "Big Red Machine". My degrees of Red Sox and Bruins and Cetics fandom was more geared toward opposition to an older brother who liked the Knicks, Yanks and Jets. Other than the Mets, my main team was the Raiders... which was anti-Jets and was on teh cover of an electronic football game I got for Christmas... The "Mad Bomber" Daryl Lamonica on the cover.

 

[RUaMoose_rivals]

I was just watching a couple of '72 and '73 WS games over the WE on YT. In one (think it was '72 vs Reds G4), Vida comes in from the bullpen in relief. The announcer says Vida wants to be a starter. He got his wish a little later on.

 

[Retired711]

I was just watching a couple of '72 and '73 WS games over the WE on YT. In one (think it was '72 vs Reds G4), Vida comes in from the bullpen in relief. The announcer says Vida wants to be a starter. He got his wish a little later on.

Oddly enough, Blue lost a game in each of the 1972-1974 Series . But he did have a save in the 1972 series. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/playerpost.php?p=bluevi01&ps=ws

 

[Knightmoves]

 

[Shelby65]

Many memorable A's named but arguably the best of them all omitted: Rollie.