Vida Blue is the answer to the age-old trivia question “Who was the last switch-hitter to win the American League MVP Award”. The Oakland A’s owner, Charles Finley, once offered Vida a bonus if he changed his first name to “True.”
Blue won the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, and he became the answer to a fun trivia question: who was the last American League MVP who was a switch-hitter?
Blue is technically the last switch-hitter to win the American League MVP award, and one of only two switch-hitters in history to do so, joining New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle on that list.
“It’s unbelievable, the stuff that he had,” Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers told MLB Network in 2018.
Vida Blue won the MVP award when he was only 22 years old.
After going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts in 24 complete games, eight of which were shutouts, Blue was named the American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player in 1971.
He was 22 when he won MVP, making him the youngest winner of the award. He is one of only 11 pitchers to have won the MVP and Cy Young awards in the same season.
Blue, a six-time All-Star and three-time 20-game winner, pitched the Swingin’ A’s, Charley Finley’s colorful, mustachioed team, to consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to 1974.
Since then, only the 1998-2000 New York Yankees have accomplished the feat.
