Vida Blue dies at the age of 73. She was a pitcher for Oakland and won three World Series championships.

Photo by Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports via REUTERS. Photo by Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports via REUTERS

The team reported that Vida Blue had died. A hard-throwing, left-handed pitcher who was one of the biggest baseball stars in the 1970s, Vida helped the A’s win three World Series titles straight before his career got derailed by drugs. He was 73.

Oakland did not reveal the cause of his death. Blue used a cane to help him move at the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1973 Oakland Athletics championship team, held on April 16,

“He was personable. He was friendly. Reggie Jackson, Reggie’s ex-teammate, said in an interview on Sunday with The Associated Press that Reggie was caring. “He was uncomfortable around the crowd.”

Blue won the American League Cy Young Award for 1971, and was voted Most Valuable Player. His record of 24-8 and 1.82 ERA with 301 Ks in 24 complete games (eight of which were shutouts) earned him this award. At the age of 22, Blue was the youngest person to ever win MVP. It is one of only 11 pitchers who have won the Cy Young and MVP in the same season.

Blue had a record of 209-161, a 3.27 ERA with 2,175 strikes, 143 complete matches and 37 shutouts in 17 seasons, with Oakland (1969-1977), San Francisco (78-81, 85-86), and Kansas City (1982-1983). Blue was on the Hall of Fame voting four times. His highest support came in 1993 with 8.7 percent, which is far below the required 75 percent.

Blue said to The Washington Post, in 2021, “That Hall of Fame, I honestly and openly wish I were a Hall of Famer.” “And I know for a fact this drug thing impeded my road to the Hall of Fame — so far.”

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Blue, a six-time All Star and three-time winner of the 20-game award, helped Charley Finley’s mustachioed Swingin’A’s team to win consecutive World Series titles between 1972-74. Since then, the only other team to have done so is the New York Yankees in 1998-2000.

Dave Stewart, a 20-game winning A’s player who was born a century later, wrote about his experience on Twitter. “There are not enough words to express what you have done for me and others.”

Jackson was stunned by the amount of weight Blue lost when he met him at their 50th reunion.

Jackson said, “I didn’t recognize him.” “I was broken. I was shaken. I will remember that for the rest my life.”

Blue was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics during the second round in 1967. He made his major league debut on July 20th, 1969, just a few days shy of turning 20. He started four games and made 12 relief pitches. Then, he spent the bulk of 1970 with Triple-A Iowa.

He was called up to the roster when it expanded and pitched a shutout of Kansas City with just one hit in his second appearance. Blue, at the age of 21 years and 55days, pitched a perfect game against Minnesota in his fourth outing.

In a press release, the A’s stated that Vida had one of the most decorated careers among players. “Vida is a legend of the franchise and a good friend.”

He refused to sign a contract after winning the MVP award and instead signed a $50,000-a-year one. Blue did not make his first 1972 start until May 24. He went 6-10 and mostly from the bullpen. Between 1973 and 1976, Blue went 77-50 but his World Series record is 0-3.

He pitched the first five inning of a no-hitter in 1975 against the California Angels. However, manager Alvin Dark pulled him early to rest him before the playoffs.

Blue is one of those players who took on leadership roles with the A’s, and clashed Finley.

Jackson stated Sunday, “We were young kids.” “Vida, who was Black from Louisiana, and I, Black in a world of whites, had a huge impact on how we acted and how we handled ourselves, because it was always the color first.”

Finley, in June 1976 tried to sell Blue to New York Yankees and Joe Rudi to Boston Red Sox. The trades were for $1.5 million for Blue and $1 million for each of Joe Rudi or Rollie Fingers. Kuhn overruled the trades under the authority of the commissioner to act in “the best interest of baseball.” Kuhn stopped Finley in December 1977 from trading Blue and Dave Revering, a minor league first-baseman to Cincinnati for 1,75 million dollars.

Blue was traded the Giants following March, in a trade that included outfielder Gary Thomasson (and catcher Gary Alexander).

Blue was sold to the Royals by March 1982. He was released from prison in August 1983. In December, he was sentenced to three months in federal jail and fined $5k for misdemeanor cocaine possession. Blue was sentenced one year in jail, but U.S. magistrate judge J. Milton Sullivant suspend the majority of that term.

Blue played baseball for the Giants in 1985 after a two-year absence. Blue was one of the players who were ordered to undergo random drug tests for the remainder of their career by baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

Blue’s 2005 arrest on suspicion DUI in Arizona was the third in less than 6 years. He failed to complete his probation and received a six-month sentence in jail. Blue was told, however, that he would be able to avoid prison by participating in a residential alcohol rehabilitation program.