On the blog today, the final "missing" 1972 All-Star card in my thread celebrating perhaps the greatest All-Star game there ever was, the 1971 epic contest held in Detroit, Michigan, and this one is none other than the A.L.'s starting pitcher, Vida Blue:
Of
course, we all know that Vida Blue absolutely exploded onto the Major
League scene in 1971, on his way to capturing both the Cy Young and MVP
Awards by season's end.
All
he did in this epic season was post a record of 24-8, with a
league-leading 1.82 earned run average, striking out 301 batters and
tossing eight shutouts.
Oh yeah, he was only 21 years of age!
His
WHIP of 0.952 and strikeouts-per-nine-innings of 8.7 also led the
league, and he completed 24 of his 39 starts, putting in 312 innings of
work for the upstart Oakland A's, who were about to go on the three-peat
championship run between 1972 and 1974.
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.
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.