![]() ![]() Blue was among the players ordered by baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in 1985 to be subject to random drug testing for the rest of their careers.Anyone with even a cursory interest in Zelda could recite these facts in their sleep, but stating them plainly hammers home a simple truth: There was not a snowball’s chance on Death Mountain that Nintendo would reinvent the series a second time. He returned to baseball with the Giants for two seasons starting in 1985. Milton Sullivant suspended the majority of the term.īlue didn't play in 1984 and was suspended that July 26 by Major League Baseball through the remainder of the season for illegal drug use. Blue was sentenced to one year in prison but U.S. He was ordered that December to serve three months in federal prison and fined $5,000 for misdemeanor possession of approximately a tenth of an ounce of cocaine. Kuhn vetoed the deals under the commissioner's authority to act in the "best interest of baseball." In December 1977, Kuhn stopped Finley from trading Blue to Cincinnati for $1.75 million and minor league first baseman Dave Revering.īlue was traded to the Giants the following March in a deal that brought Oakland seven players, including outfielder Gary Thomasson and catcher Gary Alexander.īlue was dealt to the Royals in March 1982 and released in August 1983. "Vida was from Louisiana and Black, and me being Black, being Black in a white league and a white world, was very impactful as to how you handled yourself, how you acted, because you were always colored first."įinley attempted in June 1976 to trade Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million and Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each. "We were very young kids," Jackson said Sunday. In 1975, he pitched the first five innings of a no-hitter against the California Angels, but was pulled early by manager Alvin Dark to rest him for the playoffs in a game finished by Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers.īlue was among the players who assumed leadership roles on the A's and clashed with Finley. From 1973-76, he went 77-48 but his career World Series record was 0-3. Blue didn't make his first start of 1972 until May 24 and went 6-10, mostly out of the bullpen. He held out after his MVP season and signed a $50,000 one-year deal. 21, at 21 years, 55 days that made him the youngest pitcher to throw a no-hitter since the live ball era started in 1920. In his fourth start, Blue pitched a no-hitter against Minnesota on Sept. He made four starts and 12 relief appearances, then spent most of 1970 at Triple-A Iowa.Ĭalled up when rosters expanded, he pitched a one-hit shutout at Kansas City in his second start. Selected by the then-Kansas City Athletics on the second round of the 1967 amateur draft, Blue made his big league debut with Oakland on July 20, 1969, about a week shy of his 20th birthday. That will stick with me the rest of my life." Jackson was shocked by how much weight Blue had lost when he saw him at the 50th reunion. My heart goes out to the Blue family□□□□- Dave “Smoke” Stewart May 7, 2023 There are no words for what you have meant to me and so many others. I remember watching a 19 year old phenom dominate baseball, and at the same time alter my life. ![]() Vida Blue rest in peace, my mentor, hero, and friend. He became the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game for both leagues, opening for the AL in 1971 and '75 and the NL in '78. Since then, only the 1998-2000 New York Yankees have accomplished the feat. "And I know for a fact this drug thing impeded my road to the Hall of Fame - so far."Ī six-time All-Star and three-time 20-game winner, Blue helped pitch the Swingin' A's, as Charley Finley's colorful, mustachioed team was known, to consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74. "That Hall of Fame thing, that's something that I can honestly, openly say I wish I was a Hall of Famer," Blue told The Washington Post in 2021. Picher Vida Blue #14 of the Oakland Athletics pitches to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1974 World Series at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Octoin Oakland, California. He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot four times, receiving his most support at 8.7% in 1993, far short of the 75% needed. ![]()
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