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.