Vida Blue was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball between 1969 and 1986, most notably as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships between 1972 and 1974.
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Vida Blue won the American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971.
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Six-time All-Star, Blue is the first of only five pitchers in major league history to start the All-Star Game for both the American League and the National League ; Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer are the others.
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Vida Blue was the oldest of six children born to Vida Blue, Sr, a laborer in a Mansfield iron foundry, and his wife, Sallie.
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In high school, Vida Blue pitched for the baseball team and quarterbacked the football team.
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Vida Blue received several offers to play college football, but after his father died suddenly, Blue signed a contract with the Oakland A's.
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Vida Blue was a power pitcher who worked fast and pounded the strike zone.
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Vida Blue threw an occasional curveball to keep hitters off balance and an above average change-up, but his signature pitch was a fastball that threw consistently at 94 miles per hour.
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Vida Blue was the first Athletic to win the latter award since another pitcher, Bobby Shantz, in 1952 with what were then the Philadelphia Athletics.
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Vida Blue was the youngest American League player to win the MVP Award in the 20th century.
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Vida Blue was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1971 All-Star Game, and for the National League in the 1978 All-Star Game.
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Vida Blue did not make the Athletics' post-season starting rotation, instead pitching mainly in relief.
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Vida Blue returned to form to win 20 games in 1973,17 games in 1974, and 22 games in 1975, as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics' five straight American League Western Division pennants from 1971 to 1975, and three consecutive World Championships in 1972,1973, and 1974.
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Vida Blue became the first no-hit pitcher to pitch in a combined no-hitter; others include: Chicago White Sox hurlers John 'Vida Blue Moon' Odom and Francisco Barrios; the California Angels' Mark Langston and Mike Witt; the Atlanta Braves' Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers, and Alejandro Pena; and Kevin Millwood and Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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Vida Blue endured a rocky relationship with Athletics owner Charlie Finley.
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In 1978, Vida Blue won 18 games as he led the Giants to 89 wins and a third-place finish in the National League West Division, which was won by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Vida Blue battled drug addiction over the course of his career.
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Vida Blue is currently a baseball analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area, the TV home of the San Francisco Giants.
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Vida Blue remains active, working for numerous charitable causes including Safeway All Stars Challenge Sports, automobile donations, celebrity golf tournaments, and charities for children.
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Vida Blue himself joined the band on stage in 2004 at The Fillmore in San Francisco.
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