E8: Vida Blue: Cy Young & AL MVP all at age 22 & Flipping Baseball Cards

A lefty so electric that catchers stuffed sponges in their mitts. We dive into the speed, the swagger, and the scars of Vita Blue’s remarkable career, tracing how a high school quarterback from Louisiana turned a blazing fastball into stardom, magazine covers, and a central role in the Oakland A’s three-peat dynasty. From a 1970 no-hitter at just 21 to the 1971 MVP and Cy Young sweep, we relive the moments that made him a phenomenon—and the inning, the setbacks, and the battles that revealed the human cost behind the heat.

We bring you inside the power struggle with A’s owner Charlie Finley, where a pre-free-agency system trapped stars and soured relationships. Blue’s request for fair pay met a brick wall, and a proposed nickname stunt, “TrueBlue,” showed how branding could eclipse respect. The feud spilled into blocked megadeals to the Yankees and Reds, with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepping in to stop the super-teams of the day. Through it all, the A’s rotation—Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman, Blue Moon Odom, Rollie Fingers—anchored a dynasty, and Blue’s name drew packed houses for “Blue Day” at the Coliseum.

The San Francisco chapter added history: Blue became the first pitcher to start All-Star Games for both leagues. But fame carried shadows. We talk candidly about addiction, a 1983 conviction and suspension, and the resilience it took to return, notch his 200th win, and finish a 17-year journey with six All-Star nods and three rings. We also celebrate the artistry: the towering leg kick inspired by Juan Marichal, the way that motion later influenced Dave Stewart and Dontrelle Willis, and the sheer sound of a fastball that hitters swore they heard more than saw.

Does a career with jaw-dropping peaks and uneven valleys belong in Cooperstown, or in the so-called Hall of Very Good? We weigh the stats, the context, and the character of an era that prized dominance and punished imperfection. If the 1970s taught baseball anything, it’s that legends are made of more than numbers. Hit play, then tell us: where does Vita Blue’s legacy land for you? If you enjoy the show, follow, share, and leave a quick review to help other baseball fans find us.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Why Go Back In Time

Jerry 0:00

Today's episode finds us going back a bit to the 1970s to a dominant fastball pitcher. Now, some folks who've been listening have asked me why episodes have really gravitated so far back to older players. Others have appreciated the fact that they're hearing about players they've either never heard of or haven't thought about in a while. First, I promise we're going to still cover more recent players as well. In fact, if we're on long enough, we'll cover every player. Right, Brooke?

Brooke 0:29

Oh, goodness, yes. If we have if we live that long.

Jerry 0:33

But of course, recent players are recent in our minds, and they're still discussed actively on ESPN and newer shows and podcasts. So, you know, it's it's good going back for some baseball history from time to time. Plus, if you think about it, given baseball's been around for 200 years, going back 50 years is you know still kind of recent players, right?

Brooke 0:56

I mean, well, everything's relative 50 years. I mean, that's definitely young.

Jerry 1:02

Well, this player, I actually had back in the day his Oakland A's baseball card when I was younger. Uh, Brooke, you know, we got to do an episode on the origin of baseball cards sometime.

Brooke 1:13

Oh, Lordy, that makes like a hundred ideas. You know, this is a hobby and you do have a real job.

Jerry 1:19

Well, still put it on the list.

Brooke 1:21

I will.

Jerry 1:22

Back in the day, we used to do some strange things with baseball cars. I mean, you've heard of people putting them in the spokes of bicycle wheels, just very weird, making interesting noises as you rode your bike. But now, some one thing I remember from grammar school, we even flipped baseball cars. You know, this is where your opponent, if you flip them and both cards turned heads up or heads down, your opponent got the two cards. If they wound up heads and the other was heads down, you'd keep the cards. I told a younger friend about this one time. He had never heard of this childhood game. He was horrified. He's a guy who still collects baseball cards.

Brooke 1:59

Did you did you like flip them in the air? I don't understand.

Jerry 2:03

You flipped them against a wall or down to the ground.

Brooke 2:05

Oh, oh, okay.

Jerry 2:07

And saw, hey, did they both turn up heads or feet?

Brooke 2:09

Up means their face, the player's face was up.

Jerry 2:11

Player's faces up, the other face. Otherwise, the stats, exactly.

Brooke 2:14

I've got it. All right, that makes more sense.

Jerry 2:16

Yeah, uh, looking back, it was kind of a really easy way to lose baseball cards. You know, you'd you'd use duplicates and ones you just didn't like. I think I used to get rid of my Red Sox cards that way. Just kidding, Red Sox fans, we love you. But this younger friend, he was horrified. I mean, he uh he said, How could you be so cavalier about baseball cards back in the day? And then I remembered this practice, you know, looking it up. I mean, it really kind of ended sometime over the 80s as baseball cards became more of an investment and the focus changed. Topps even removed that horrible hard chewing gum in the uh baseball card pack that would always ruin the adjacent card. They removed that in 1992.

Brooke 2:59

And with the statement on horrible chewing gum, why don't we start the episode?

Jerry 3:12

Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes, and each episode will be a snapshot into America's pastime. Maybe it'll be a player, a tradition, a stadium, a rule, or some random fun aspect of the game. So let's get on to today's topic.

Jerry 3:35

Now, returning to the player we're supposed to focus on, we're going to talk today about Vita Blue. Brooke, have you ever heard of Vita Blue?

Brooke 3:44

You know, I hadn't before this episode, and when you first mentioned his name, my mind immediately jumped to the I Love Lucy skit on Vitamina Vegemin.

Jerry 3:53

It's so tasty, too. Tastes just like candy. No, it's Vita V-I-D-A blue, meaning life, kind of like the Spanish word Vida, you know, as in like the Ricky Martin song Live in La Vida Loca, you know, upside, inside out, live in la vida.

Brooke 4:11

Please stop. I beg you, please stop. And it's Vita.

Jerry 4:14

It is Vita. So back to Vita Blue, a pitcher not in the Hall of Fame, and we can talk later perhaps why. But he was definitely a pitcher that one cannot think of the era of the early 70s without including him. He was part of a killer Oakland Athletics pitching lineup that won three consecutive World Series from 72 to 1974, winning the division, the AL West, five years straight. I mean, this is a team that had pitchers like Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman, reliever Raleigh Fingers, and Blue Moon Odom. Brooke's actually drinking a Blue Moon now.

Brooke 4:48

Yes, I am.

Jerry 4:50

The 1970s athletics also perhaps had the greatest mustache collection in baseball history. And that will be a podcast, right, Brooke?

Brooke 4:58

Definitely. It's already in the notebook.

Early Life And Rise

The 1971 Breakout Season

Jerry 5:01

Well, let's talk more about Vita. He was born here in Louisiana, where we are right now, in Mansville, that's in northwest Louisiana, the oldest of six children, and the son of Vida Blue Sr., an iron foundry worker. Now he played quarterback for the DeSoto High football team at a time when high schools were still segregated down here. He was so athletic that DeSoto, a school that did not have a baseball team, built one around him. And even early on, he was a talented pitcher, but a bit inconsistent. He once lost a 21 strikeout no-hitter as he walked 10 batters. That's horrible. There was a story that he would pitch so hard that they rotated catchers because the catchers' hands would swell up for days. They had to put sponges inside the mitts just to catch. Like so many baseball greats, he was actually recruited to play college football as well by schools like Notre Dame and Purdue. But as his father had recently passed away, he chose to go the professional baseball route because, you know, the 12,500 years salary would help his family. So the Kansas City Athletics at that time drafted him in 1967. Now, by the next year, 1968, that would be the team that would move to Oakland. Starting in the Minors, he was called up briefly to the Majors in 1969 for a couple of games, and then went back to the Minors on the Iowa Oaks. I love those minor league names before getting called up again in September 70. Now, although he just had two starts in 1970, but they were impressive. A one-hit shutout of the Royals and a no-hit shutout of the Twins. He's still the youngest American League pitcher to throw a no-hitter at age 21 years, 55 days. Now there are five pitchers that pitched no-hitters younger, but they're all National League pitchers, and they're all from the late 1800s, early 1900s. Blue was a lefty with an incredible fastball. Pete Rose once noted that he threw as hard as anyone he faced. And there's a great book, The Nyer James Guide to Pitchers, in 2004, where baseball writer historian Bill James ranks the best fastball pitchers of each era. He ranked Vida Blue the second best fastball of the early 70s, behind only Nolan Ryan. Now think about that, fans of 70s baseball. That means ahead of Goose Gossage, ahead of Tom Seaver, ahead of Steve Carlton. Now in 1971, that's when Blue was at his best. Vida in his first full season had a record of 24-8 with an American League leading 1.82 ERA, eight shutouts, 301 strikeouts. Now I know sometimes these statistics grind our podcast to the halt, but these are impressive numbers worth saying. They really are. He was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1971 All-Star game. And he'd go on to win that year both the American League Cy Young and the American League MVP. Now, you know, just giving you some perspective, only 11 pitchers have ever achieved those two together. Vida is an esteemed company with pitchers including Roger Clemens, Justin Verlander, Sandy Koufax, Clayton Kershaw, Bob Gibson. Also that year, he would appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time magazine and Esquire. So celebrity was there. Brooke, did you see uh some of those some of those pictures maybe for our social media?

Brooke 8:26

Yeah, I did. And I'll post this. There's a photo of him lifting weights in a purple Speedo. You've got to check out that image. And he certainly never missed leg day. Ooh, he's built.

Jerry 8:39

Yeah, Brooke lingered a little too long on those pictures.

Brooke 8:41

Oh man.

Jerry 8:44

Well, in 1971, that's the year, again, that the A's would win the division. Now they did get swept in a three-game series versus the Orioles in the American League Championship series. Now the Orioles would eventually lose that World Series against Roberto Clemente's Pirates. Blue had started game one versus the Orioles and in six innings had only give up one run, but he had a terrible seventh, giving up four runs and finishing with an ERA of 6.43. Now he had an incredible season. Again, he won the MVP, he won the Cy Young for the American League. So, you know, Blue approached the ownership for a raise. And A's owner Charlie Finley, per Vida, said Finley said, yeah, you deserve the raise, but you're not going to get it. He made 14,000 in 1971, and Vida was looking for 92,500. Those numbers are shocking today given something.

Brooke 9:39

No kidding, no kidding.

Contract Battles And Finley Feuds

Jerry 9:40

Now remember, the free agency era in baseball didn't really start until 1976 with the arbitration decision known as the Seitz decision in 75. So prior to that, several players did try holding out or going through arbitration, but they had no clout of negotiating or changing teams because of the long-standing reserve clause in their contract, which dated back to from 1879. Well, Blue held out until May 72, eventually settling on a mere 63,000. But the process really disheartened him. It created a contentious relationship with Finley. I mean, the seeds to this relationship were planted even earlier in the season. Finley, recognizing his pitching phenom, actually said to the sportscasters that he wanted to pay Vida to change his name to, quote, TrueBlue. Now, Vida, who was named after his father, who had died when he was a teen, was really insulted by this. Finley even had the name TrueBlue put on the A scoreboard. He encouraged announcers to refer to Vida this way. So Charlie Finley encouraged players to use their nickname. Vida actually played with a jersey with just his first name, Vida, for part of the 70 season.

Brooke 10:52

I've seen the photos of it, and no, you're not getting one.

Postseason Highs And Team Dynasties

Jerry 10:57

So in a shortened season, Vida pitched 6-10, but with a .280 ERA. He didn't start for the A's in that year's postseason. He did pitch relief in the 72 World Series versus the Reds. But following that year, Blue returned to the prior form. In 1973, he was 20- 9. 1974, he was 17 and 15. In 1975, perhaps his best season since 71, he was 22 and 11. Again, starting the all-star game and finishing with a 3.01 ERA. But you know, Blue's disillusionment with the A's and dislike of Finley continued with the team, despite his success and despite three World Series rings. Blue said once, quote, He treated me like a colored boy. It changed my whole perspective about the game of baseball. Well, you know, this relationship got so contentious. Finley eventually tried selling Blue's contract twice, first to the Yankees in 1976 and to the Reds in 1978. And both of these trades were vetoed by Major League Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who felt the trades would benefit already strong teams in the Yankees and Reds. Now those teams were strong, but I mean, can you imagine the commissioner vetoing trades today? So in 1976, just to give you some idea of the vitriol here, Blue told reporters, " I hope the next breath Charlie Finley takes is his last. I hope he falls flat on his face and dies of polio. Yike. So finally in March 1978, he was traded to the Giants for six players and $300,000. In 1978 with the Giants, Blue was 18-12-10 with a .278 ERA. He started the National League All-Star Game, making him the first pitcher to pitch an All-Star game, start an All-Star game for both leagues. In 1979, his career slipped to a .501 ERA, but he was better in 80 and 81, but eventually traded to the Royals for four players in 82. And after the 1983 season, Vida Blue and three former teammates pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase cocaine. He got three months in prison, but he was suspended for the entire 1984 season. He later admitted he struggled with drug addiction through a lot of his career. Well, after his suspension, later in his career, he signed a one-year deal to return to the Giants, but his final two seasons were not that great. He still managed a 327 ERA and 28 starts in 1986. And in April of 1986, he won his 200th Major League game. He retired in 1987. Still quite the career. He finished six-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion, plus that AL MVP in Cy Young of 1971. Now, after all that stats and all those years, you're probably looking for some fun trivia here.

Brooke 14:03

Baseball trivia.

Jerry 14:04

Yes, baseball trivia. Vida got married in 1989 on the pitcher's mound of Candlestick Park. His best man was Giants great Willie McCovey. He even had a small 1972 role in a Jim Brown film, the NFL running back Black Gun. When you watch videos of Vida, you're struck by his high kick windup. Now he's very influenced by 1960s Giants pitcher Juan Marischell, who we should do a podcast on, bruh. I don't even know how to spell his name. I'll get it to you.

Brooke 14:38

Okay.

Jerry 14:39

You see Vida's wind up influence with later pitchers like Dave Stewart, Mark Langdon, Dontrell Willis. I mean, some of these some of the Oakland pitchers.

Brooke 14:46

Yeah, I got to see it when I was looking for some social post. It is something else. He's got one heck of a high leg kick.

Jerry 14:53

He does. Well, despite being a dominant pitcher with a tremendous fastball in the early 1970s, and part of a killer A's pitching staff that won three World Series, when he was eligible for the Hall of Fame, he got no more than nine percent of the vote. And he was removed from the ballot for low totals. And he's still not in it. Many commentators, you know, they'll say, well, maybe he should be in the quote hall of very good. He had two elite seasons, but I mean the rest of his career outside of 1971 and 76, you know, maybe not as strong. I think he had very solid years there. And, you know, I mean, there are people like his teammate Catfish Hunter, who are in the Hall of Fame who had a shorter career and, you know, a similar ERA. But my guess is probably at the time the cocaine use and suspension really tainted voters.

Brooke 15:48

Yeah, well, that makes sense. I found a few quotes on social, but I love this one particularly. The player said, We didn't actually see the ball, but we certainly heard it. Also, when he pitched, they advertised it as Blue Day. And when they did that, the fans flocked to see him because of how fast he could pitch.

Jerry 16:08

Yeah, in an era before social media, he was really a sensation. We mentioned the magazine covers. Yeah, he really was. And we saw some interviews of him on talk shows at the time.

Brooke 16:18

We did, Dick Cavett.

Trades Blocked And Bitter Quotes

Jerry 16:20

So that wraps up today's episode. Thanks as always for joining us, especially to Tommy down at the hardware store.

Brooke 16:26

The hardware store? What on earth are you getting? First of all, do you even know where a hardware store is? And I don't want to know what you're getting.

Jerry 16:34

I get hardware.

Brooke 16:35

What are you getting at the hardware store?

Jerry 16:36

Haven't you always wanted to learn to make a key? Well, I hope you enjoyed. Hope you'll keep listening. And don't forget to like us and subscribe on your podcast platform.

Brooke 16:47

And Instagram and Facebook.

Jerry 16:49

This is Jerry Dynes heading back to the locker room at Fungos and Fastballs.