Here’s
a 1970 “Dedicated Rookie” card for former Oakland A’s pitching ace Vida
Blue, who was about to explode onto the baseball world a year later.
Blue made a handful of appearances in 1969, and even less in 1970 before
absolutely dominating the Major Leagues in 1971, posting a 24-8 record
with 301 strikeouts and a 1.82 earned run average, allowing him to take
home not only a Cy Young Award, but the American League MVP as well.
He would go on to post two more 20-win seasons, while also starting an
all-star game for both the A.L. (1971) and N.L. (1978), with six seasons
of sub-3.00 ERA as well.
By the time he retired after the 1986 season he was the owner of over 200 career wins (209), with a nice 3.27 ERA and 2175 K’s.
In addition to his Cy Young win in 1971 he also posted a third-place
finish in 1978, and was named to six all-star games, while leading the
Oakland A’s to three straight World Series championships between
1972-1974.
Not a bad career at that!