Vida Blue

Vida Blue (1949–2023) was a left-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986. Born in Mansfield, Louisiana, he spent the bulk of his career with the Oakland Athletics (1969–1977), where he was a central figure on the teams that won three consecutive World Series championships from 1972 to 1974. In 1971 he won both the American League Cy Young Award and the AL Most Valuable Player Award. A six-time All-Star, he was the first pitcher in major league history to start the All-Star Game for both the AL (1971) and the National League (1978). He later pitched for the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals.