Vida Blue was dominant, deserving of Hall of Fame recognition
If you were a Black kid that loved baseball in the 1970s, Oakland A’ pitcher Vida Blue was a part of your life. I was a Black kid in the 1970s that still loves baseball and felt a real sense of loss when Blue passed away on Saturday at 73.
Blue’s 1971 season was so dominant that he was called a left-handed Bob Gibson. Beginning the season at 21, Blue posted a 24-8 record with a 1.82 ERA, 301 strikeouts, 24 complete games, and eight shutouts.
He won both the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Cy Young Award, making him one of just 11 pitchers to accomplish the feat.
A year later, he would lead the A’s to the first of three consecutive World Series titles and was renowned as one of baseball’s finest ambassadors from the days he played until his death at age 73.
So, why isn’t he in the Baseball Hall of Fame?
A drug possession conviction in the early ’80s cost him almost two full seasons as punishment after he was given a year in prison for possession of about a tenth of an ounce of cocaine. U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Milton Sullivant suspended a majority of the sentence and Blue served three months.
Hall of Fame voters, to this day, find reasons to keep Black players out of the Hall of Fame. They had one. They used it.
In 2021, Blue told the Washington Post, “That Hall of Fame thing, that’s something that I can honestly, openly say I wish I was a Hall of Famer. And I know for a fact this drug thing impeded my road to the Hall of Fame – so far.”
Blue won 209 games and lost 161 with a 3.27 ERA. Hall of Fame worthy. He struck out 2,175 batters. Hall of Fame worthy. He had 143 complete games and an incredible 37 shutouts over 17 seasons with the A’s, San Francisco Giants, and Kansas City Royals. Those marks are Hall of Fame worthy.
For every St. Louis Cardinal fan stumping for Adam Wainwright to reach the Hall of Fame consider that Wainwright will finish behind Blue in every significant pitching category.
Blue also dealt with stingy owner Charlie Finley. Regardless of their color, Finley refused to pay his World Champions market-rate wages. Twice, he traded Blue for has-been players and cash. Both times Commissioner Bowie Kuhn rejected the trades in “the best interest of baseball.”
Blue was ultimately traded to the Giants where he was named to three All-Star Games.
I saw Blue pitch one time and he was masterful on the evening of May 1, 1978. His Giants won 2-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals and Blue gave up just six hits over eight innings.
“I remember watching a 19-year-old phenom dominate baseball, and at the same time alter my life,” Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner for the A’s in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, wrote on Twitter. “There are no words for what you have meant to me and so many others.”
The Reid Roundup
Vida Blue and Pittsburgh Pirates great Dock Ellis made history in 1971 when they were the first Black pitchers to start an MLB All-Star Game…Blue was the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game for both leagues. He started for the AL in 1971 and ’75 and the NL in ’78…In ’71, Blue appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Sport, and Time magazines…While the A’s were noted for colorful uniforms, Blue introduced the white baseball cleats, a fashion that was soon picked up by teammates. He also wore his first name on the back of his jersey, not his last…Notre Dame recruited Blue to play football and he preferred that sport over baseball. He declined the scholarship because he could make money faster in baseball…Who is the last switch hitter to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award? Vida Blue in ’71. He played most of his career before there was a designated hitter…Ferguson Jenkins reminded fans on Sunday that he and Blue were the first two Black men to win a Cy Young Award in the same season. Jenkins won with the Chicago Cubs in ’71.
Vida Blue should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, based on his accomplishments in baseball. It’s not the Personal Life Hall of Fame.
I totally agree. Is there an online petition?
It is even more ludicrous that Barry Bonds are not in Hall of Fame. In fact, it is patently Unamerican!
Not only do they still deny taking steroids, the US Attorney General prosecuted both for alleged perjury directly on their Federal testimony that they did not take steroids. They both were found not guilty. Rumors are rumors until proven. Neither Bonds nor Clemens ever failed a drug test and both took several of them. In the trials, people who alleged the suspicion were subpoenaed testified and the courts and juries were unconvinced as shown by the verdicts.
Obviously, the BBWAA is not legally obligated to follow laws and legal maxims. However, they represent the American Pastime and should follow the American spirit. Guilty upon accusation and until proven non guilty holds in some European courts. It is the opposite of the basis of American law and American principles. This is even worse. It is guilty even after being found not guilty in Federal Court against prosecution by the highest legal officer in the land. PREPOSTEROUS and blatantly Unamerican. Must this wrongheaded self-righteousness of the BBWAA continue until after Bonds and CLemens both die? What a travesty!!!
And yes, it is ridiculous and selective to keep Vida Blue out. Harmon Killebrew remains in the Hall of Fame despite being convicted of fraud. There are others. VIda Blue’s records warrant his posthumous induction.
This makes my other plea even more urgent. It is inevitable that Bonds and Clemens will eventually be inducted. Please do not continue to deny them so long that their inductions also must be posthumous. They deserve the honors while they still live.