The
next player on my 1975 “In-Action” parade is former all-star pitcher
Vida Blue, who was just about to go on and post his third 20-win season in five years in 1975:
Blue helped the Oakland A’s wrap up their third straight title in 1974,
posting a record of 17-15 with a 3.25 earned run average over a whopping
40 starts and 282.1 innings of work.
1975 would be better from a personal standpoint, as he’d go on to win 22
games against 11 losses, with a 3.01 ERA and 189 strikeouts, the most
next to his 301 from his MVP/Cy Young season of 1971, even if the
Oakland dynasty was coming to an end, especially with most of the big
names on the team either getting traded or bolting via Free Agency.
Blue would go on to post 209 career victories in the Majors, having some
successful seasons with the San Francisco Giants, even starting the
1978 All-Star game for the National League, while finishing up his
17-year career in 1986.
It’s amazing for me to remember that when Blue started that NL All-Star
game in 1978, he wasn’t even 30 years old, yet to me he already seemed
to be an aging veteran by then.
Incredible how his career turned out after such a torrid start in the early part of the decade of the 1970’s.