Former star pitcher Vida Blue has passed away, the Oakland A’s have announced. No cause was announced.
In 1970, during a September call up, Blue no-hit the 1st place Minnesota Twins. He followed that with his 24-8, 1.82 ERA 1971 campaign. That garnered him the MVP and Cy Young awards…yet not the Rookie of the Year award, which went to Chris Chambliss for some reason (who’d had a good but not amazing season for Cleveland). He, of course, was a key component of the three-straight A’s WS champions 1972-74. In 1975, he was part of a combined no-hitter. 1976 saw A’s owner Charlie O. Finley declined to pay his many stars…several left via a brand new thing called free agency and others were traded. Finley tried to trade Blue twice—to the Yankees for cash, then to the Reds for a player and cash—but Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided both “in the best interests of baseball.” Blue ultimately did leave the A’s for 1978, pitching for the SF Giants for 4 seasons and making 3 all star teams.
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