RIP Vida Blue

[da man]

Could have played for the Yankees but Bowie Kuhn stepped in.

 

[BTExpress]

I was very young during his prime and my main memory was that late in his career, he had his first name on the back of his jersey. RIP

Ted Turner was way ahead of him. Of course, Kuhn stepped in then, too.

 

[Brian J Walter]

And the answer to a confounding trivia question -- the last switch-hitter to win MVP.

Willie McGee and Pete Rose (and possibly others, but I know those two) would like a word.

 

[MTM]

Last switch hitter to win AL MVP

 

[HanSenSE]

According to legend, suggested Will Clark use "The Thrill is Gone" on his answering machine.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

I caught him in the end with the Giants when I was still getting into baseball.

One of those guys I would love to have seen in his heyday.

My family relocated from Houston to metro DC in the summer of 1970.

The following year, me and a bunch of my baseball teammates -- we were ninth graders, nobody was driving then -- got one of my buddy's Dads to drive us down to RFK, drop us off in a station wagon and pick us up after the Senators (living on borrowed time, of course) game was over.

We sat in the outfield bleachers for 50 cents, if memory serves. Maybe a buck.

Anyway, Vida Blue was starting for the Oakland Athletics that day. And he was startin' to really dominate MLB.

It was June or July, hot, but Vida was from Louisiana, no problem. He worked fast and mowed down the Senators, inning after inning. Hurled a one-hitter. Game ended in less than two hours. My God he was exceptional.

We all know how his career got short circuited. He never really has even been in the conversation for Cooperstown, has he?

 

[Slacker]

WIKI: In The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, all-time hits leader Pete Rose stated that Blue "threw as hard as anyone" he ever faced, and baseball historian Bill James cited Blue as the hardest-throwing lefty, and the second-hardest thrower of his era, behind only Nolan Ryan.

 

[Starman]

My family relocated from Houston to metro DC in the summer of 1970.

The following year, me and a bunch of my baseball teammates -- we were ninth graders, nobody was driving then -- got one of my buddy's Dads to drive us down to RFK, drop us off in a station wagon and pick us up after the Senators (living on borrowed time, of course) game was over.

We sat in the outfield bleachers for 50 cents, if memory serves. Maybe a buck.

Anyway, Vida Blue was starting for the Oakland Athletics that day. And he was startin' to really dominate MLB.

It was June or July, hot, but Vida was from Louisiana, no problem. He worked fast and mowed down the Senators, inning after inning. Hurled a one-hitter. Game ended in less than two hours. My God he was exceptional.

We all know how his career got short circuited. He never really has even been in the conversation for Cooperstown, has he?

He's better qualified than Rube Marquard for sure and probably right in the same neighborhood as Jack Morris and several others.

Both he and Gooden had five year peak periods fairly comparable to Koufax, but Koufax's career was drastically shortened by injuries, not drugs.

Really, I don't think there were particularly any rumors that either Gooden or Blue were involved in unsavory stuff other then rumored substance abuse, which was rampant at the time and for which they were duly penalized.

 

[Starman]

My dad and I had seats in the LF corner upper deck for the 71 ASG.
The home bullpen was down the third base line so Blue was warming up there before the game, about 100 feet away from us. Despite the general pregame buzz of the crowd, I remember Blue's warmup pitches going "smack ... smack ... smack" above the background noise.

I also remember Roberto Clemente firing shots from RF across the diamond to 3B and home in warmups. He only threw about a half dozen times but people were shaking their heads.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

If you've got two and a half hours to yourself, do yourself a favor and watch the '71 All-Star Game, with commercials.



Six players hit home runs in this game, and all six are in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Starman]

It was hot as heck that night and there was a 20-25 mph wind blowing across the field from left to right (therefore right at our backs in the LF corner, but we were under the canopy so we weren't getting gusts of wind on our backs, which would have been nice).

Any fly balls hit out to left got pushed down by the wind; anything toward center or right field took off like a rocket. Including Reggie's.

 

[Hermes]

I love watching Youtube compilations of great throws from right field to third base. Might be my favorite type of play in sports.