Vida Blue, dead at 73
- Thread starter bosockboy
- Start date
Seems like yesterday that hestarted his first full season like he was shot out of a cannon (17-3 by July 4). He was on *every* magazine cover. He had many many really good seasons after '71, but never *quite* as great as that one. (301Ks in 312IP; 1.80 ERA)
As a kid, we summered at Salisbury Beach, and I recall that season of his so vividly. We followed that season as closely as we followed the Sox. Even on the east coast, he was HUGELY popular that season.
Obligatory: I thought that he passed several years ago, so was kinda surprised to see "RIP Vida" in my feed this morning.
Obligatory mention of a great, great game
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-28-1971-sonny-siebert-outduels-vida-blue/
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-28-1971-sonny-siebert-outduels-vida-blue/
I had a couple chancs to briefly talk with Vida, as he would hang out at a local bar near me. I shook hands with him once and his hand was huge, he could hold a baseball like most of us would hold a golf ball.
The highlight was one time a coworker of mine who was a Yankee fan was blathering on about something (this was pre-2004) and I was trying to explain where he was wrong. I see Vida listening in (other guy had no idea who he was) and when the guy went to go to the bathroom, Vida looked over at me, nodded, and said "your buddy doesn't know shit about baseball".
The highlight was one time a coworker of mine who was a Yankee fan was blathering on about something (this was pre-2004) and I was trying to explain where he was wrong. I see Vida listening in (other guy had no idea who he was) and when the guy went to go to the bathroom, Vida looked over at me, nodded, and said "your buddy doesn't know shit about baseball".
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Vida Blue was a big part of my early baseball fandom. The early 70s is when I first REALLY started following baseball. Always a Sox fan, I marveled at those Charlie Finley A's and looked forward to whatever limited opportunities there were to see them on TV.
I still have the ticket stub somewhere. As a kid I was pretty sure, at that moment, that the Red Sox were going to win it all and Siebert was going to McLain the season.
I have two vivid memories of this great pitcher. The Sonny Siebert game in late May 1971, and the incredible gut wrenching hand wringing final 4 innings in the do or die game 5 of the 1972 ALCS (which he preserved 2-1). He was the only calm guy in the Tiger Stadium den that day and knew exactly what he was doing. And for all of you who were there or listening the night of May 28, 1971, you can relive it all here. What a game!
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-28-1971-sonny-siebert-outduels-vida-blue/
RIP Vida Blue
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-28-1971-sonny-siebert-outduels-vida-blue/
RIP Vida Blue
My dad took me to the Siebert-Blue game, as a birthday present (20th) probably the last game he bought me tickets for. We had seats about 20 rows behind home plate. Great for pitcher watching. It was one of the most hyped games at that time and the park was electric. Siebert was a vet having a great start (he was like 9-0) and Blue was becoming Blue and was about unhittable (10-1 with a 1-something ERA) . I'm pretty sure he won the CY that season. But that night IIRC the Sox got to him early and took the lead and Siebert outpitched Blue.
RIP Vida and thanks again Dad
RIP Vida and thanks again Dad
First game I ever went to was also a Blue vs. Siebert matchup from later that year.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197108110.shtml
Game was delayed for over two hours and finished just after the 1 am curfew. My 9 year old self still remembers every minute.
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"Even on the east coast," brings back memories. Unless you listened to some all-news radio station that did sports twice an hour or got an afternoon paper (or lived close enough to a big city to get a really late edition of a morning paper), west coast games were truly a mystery for 36 hours or so.
I saw him pitch a game at Candlestick Park right after the strike, 1981.
Carried a no hitter into the 7th inning against the Cubs.
Going full circle to the Red Sox, guess who broke it up? Bill Buckner. And that was after some guy sitting near me in the stands had spent most of innings 1-6 screaming at him for no apparent reason.
Carried a no hitter into the 7th inning against the Cubs.
Going full circle to the Red Sox, guess who broke it up? Bill Buckner. And that was after some guy sitting near me in the stands had spent most of innings 1-6 screaming at him for no apparent reason.
Was just going to post the same thing! I was the only kid with a blue glove in my first year of Little League.
Bowie Kuhn really screwed over Blue and might have cost him a chance at the HOF. He vetoed the sale of Blue to the Yankees in ‘76, and then did the same thing with a trade to the Reds in ‘78. Imagine how many more games and championship Blue would have won if he was on either of those Yankees or Reds teams in the late 70’s and early 80’s? Instead he ended up some really crappy Giants teams.
Surprisingly, never won a world series game and only had 1 post season win for those great Oakland teams (a complete game 2 hit shutout against Baltimore in the 1974 ALCS). But he did pitch 4 shutout innings to get the save in the clinching 2-1 Game 5 ALCS win (when the ALCS was best of five) against Detroit followed by a save in Game 1 of the 1972 WS against the Reds two days later.
Great article. Blue was fun to watch. Two things in that article. Sonny hitting 6 homers in a season. Awesome.
And 2 hours and 15 minutes game time. Wow. It was a different game back then.
Did this post come from 2022? We are back to shorter games this year.
View: https://twitter.com/Marlins/status/1643421580112932864
Love it. They showed an interesting comparison in Juan Soto's pre pitch routine at the plate last night on ESPN compared to last year.