Vida Blue died at the age of 73.
Vida Blue died on May 6, 2023, at a hospital in San Francisco’s East Bay, from cancer-related complications caused by his drug problems.
Vida Blue won the American League Cy Young Award and MVP in 1971 after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA, 301 strikeouts, and 24 complete games, eight of which were shutouts.
Blue is one of only 11 pitchers to have won both awards in the same year.
Following his award-winning 1971 season, Blue clashed with A’s owner Charlie Finley over his salary and played sparingly in 1972 as the A’s won their first of three World Series titles in a row.
Blue, a six-time All-Star, pitched the Swingin’ A’s to consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to 1974. Only the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000 have done so since.
Blue did not play in 1984 and was suspended by Major League Baseball for the rest of the season on July 26 for illegal drug use.
In his 2011 autobiography, “Vida Blue: A Life,” Blue suggested that he had struggled with substance abuse for many years. “Along with all the glory that I’d achieved, there was a growing darkness reaching for me,” he wrote. “And the light began to dim as early as 1972”
