Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash A’s to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, died Saturday, according to the team. He was 73. Blue died at a hospital in San Francisco’s East Bay area of medical complications stemming from cancer, the Oakland Athletics said. Blue had used a walking stick to assist his movement at a 50th anniversary of the 1973 A’s championship team on April 16.
“He was engaging. He was personable. He was caring,” ex-teammate Reggie Jackson said during an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. “He was uncomfortable with the crowd.” Blue was voted the 1971 American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts with 24 complete games, eight of them shutouts. He was 22 at when he won MVP, the youngest to win the award. He remains among just 11 pitchers to win MVP and Cy Young in the same year.
