Vida Blue

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1969-1986)

W–L 209–161
ERA 3.27
WHIP 1.23
SO 2,175
Pitcher PIV 26790.0
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
B / L
Height / Weight
6'0" / 189 lb
Born
7/28/1949 in Mansfield, LA, USA
Died
5/6/2023 in Tracy, CA, USA
MLB Debut
1969-07-20
Last Game
1986-10-02
Awards
6× All-Star · MVP · Cy Young

Full name: Vida Rochelle Blue

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
209 161 502 473 143 37 2 3343.3 2,939 1,213 263 1,185 2,175 3.27 26790.0

Career ERA 3.27 vs. league average 3.75 across their career seasons — 12.9% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1969 OAK AL 1 1 12 4 0 0 1 42.0 49 31 18 24 6.64 3.61 (-84%) -3215.5
1970 OAK AL 2 0 6 6 2 2 0 38.7 20 9 12 35 2.09 3.89 (+46%) 1996.6
1971 OAK AL 24 8 39 39 24 8 0 312.0 209 63 88 301 1.82 3.47 (+48%) 10548.4
1972 OAK AL 6 10 25 23 5 4 0 151.0 117 47 48 111 2.80 3.26 (+14%) 1614.0
1973 OAK AL 20 9 37 37 13 4 0 263.7 214 96 105 158 3.28 3.75 (+13%) -944.5
1974 OAK AL 17 15 40 40 12 1 0 282.3 246 102 98 174 3.25 3.63 (+10%) 3338.2
1975 OAK AL 22 11 39 38 13 2 1 278.0 243 93 99 189 3.01 3.71 (+19%) 2784.7
1976 OAK AL 18 13 37 37 20 6 0 298.3 268 78 63 166 2.35 3.51 (+33%) 7589.1
1977 OAK AL 14 19 38 38 16 1 0 279.7 284 119 86 157 3.83 4.00 (+4%) 2816.0
1978 SFN NL 18 10 35 35 9 4 0 258.0 233 80 70 171 2.79 3.69 (+24%) 6854.2
1979 SFN NL 14 14 34 34 10 0 0 237.0 246 132 111 138 5.01 4.00 (-25%) -1451.1
1980 SFN NL 14 10 31 31 10 3 0 224.0 202 74 61 129 2.97 3.84 (+23%) 3583.8
1981 SFN NL 8 6 18 18 1 0 0 124.7 97 34 54 63 2.45 3.58 (+32%) -185.5
1982 KCA AL 13 12 31 31 6 2 0 181.0 163 76 80 103 3.78 3.86 (+2%) -2162.8
1983 KCA AL 0 5 19 14 1 0 0 85.3 96 57 35 53 6.01 3.87 (-55%) -1641.4
1985 SFN NL 8 8 33 20 1 0 0 131.0 115 65 80 103 4.47 3.89 (-15%) -2490.0
1986 SFN NL 10 10 28 28 0 0 0 156.7 137 57 77 100 3.27 3.97 (+18%) -2244.2
Career · 17 seasons 209 161 502 473 143 37 2 3,343.1 2,939 1,213 1,185 2,175 3.27 — 26,790

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
508 512 37 53 9 0 4 15 0 49 271 .104 .186 .145 .330 -3,374

Career AVG .104 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 59.7% below league average.

Career OBP .186 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 42.6% below league average.

Career SLG .145 vs. league average .380 across their career seasons — 62.0% below league average.

Career OPS .330 vs. league average .704 across their career seasons — 53.1% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1969 OAK AL 12 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 .000 — — — — 0.0
1970 OAK AL 6 15 1 3 1 0 1 3 0 1 7 .200 — — — — 0.0
1971 OAK AL 39 102 6 12 1 0 0 2 0 4 63 .118 .249 (-53%) .316 (-47%) .365 (-65%) .682 (-57%) -870.6
1972 OAK AL 27 45 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 34 .044 — — — — -474.7
1973 OAK AL 38 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1974 OAK AL 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1975 OAK AL 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1976 OAK AL 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1977 OAK AL 38 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 — — — — 0.0
1978 SFN NL 35 79 8 6 1 0 1 2 0 16 51 .076 .257 (-71%) .323 (-26%) .378 (-67%) .702 (-48%) -551.5
1979 SFN NL 37 83 7 10 1 0 1 3 0 6 35 .120 .265 (-55%) .329 (-45%) .397 (-58%) .727 (-52%) -691.6
1980 SFN NL 31 68 3 5 1 0 0 1 0 3 34 .074 .264 (-72%) .326 (-66%) .387 (-77%) .714 (-72%) -785.3
1981 SFN NL 18 35 4 7 2 0 0 1 0 3 10 .200 — — — — 0.0
1982 KCA AL 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1983 KCA AL 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1985 SFN NL 33 30 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 3 12 .133 — — — — 0.0
1986 SFN NL 28 43 3 4 1 0 1 3 0 6 20 .093 — — — — 0.0
Career · 17 seasons 508 512 37 53 9 0 4 15 0 49 271 .104 — — — — -3,374

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
17 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 12 .000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1975 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1974 ALCS OAK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1974 WS OAK 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000
1973 ALCS OAK 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1973 WS OAK 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000
1972 ALCS OAK 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1972 WS OAK 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 .000
1971 ALCS OAK 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1 5 17 10 2 64.7 55 31 23 47 4.31

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1975 ALCS OAK 0 0 1 1 0 3.0 6 3 0 2 9.00
1974 ALCS OAK 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 2 0 0 7 0.00
1974 WS OAK 0 1 2 2 0 13.7 10 5 7 9 3.29
1973 ALCS OAK 0 1 2 2 0 7.0 8 8 5 3 10.29
1973 WS OAK 0 1 2 2 0 11.0 10 6 3 8 4.91
1972 ALCS OAK 0 0 4 0 1 5.3 4 0 1 5 0.00
1972 WS OAK 0 1 4 1 1 8.7 8 4 5 5 4.15
1971 ALCS OAK 0 1 1 1 0 7.0 7 5 2 8 6.43

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1010 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home266268142417.090
Away242244232938.119

Pitching — Home / Away

SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home2621825.2148655462512092.73
Away2401517.214536595609663.91

Last 10 Games — Batting

DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1986-10-02 SFGHOUL 100000000
1986-09-27 SFGLADW 200000001
1986-09-22 SFGCINW 200000002
1986-09-17 SFGSDPL 201100101
1986-09-10 SFGCINL 100000000
1986-09-05 SFGWSNW 100000010
1986-08-31 SFGPHIL 200000012
1986-08-26 SFGWSNW 201000000
1986-08-22 SFGNYNL 200000001
1986-08-17 SFGLADL 200000002

Last 10 Games — Pitching

DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1986-10-02 SFGHOU — 5.0200430
1986-09-27 SFGLAD W 5.0522231
1986-09-22 SFGCIN — 4.0632231
1986-09-17 SFGSDP — 5.1422121
1986-09-10 SFGCIN L 3.2655312
1986-09-05 SFGWSN — 5.0722520
1986-08-31 SFGPHI L 7.06444102
1986-08-26 SFGWSN — 9.0100360
1986-08-22 SFGNYN L 4.2844421
1986-08-17 SFGLAD L 7.21121121

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 502 473 127 427 19 21

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1969 OAK P 12 4 1 4 0 0
1970 OAK P 6 6 1 7 0 0
1971 OAK P 39 39 15 24 0 0
1972 OAK P 25 23 4 17 2 0
1973 OAK P 37 37 9 30 0 0
1974 OAK P 40 40 10 16 3 0
1975 OAK P 39 38 4 34 1 1
1976 OAK P 37 37 3 34 1 2
1977 OAK P 38 38 6 42 3 2
1978 SFN P 35 35 12 29 0 4
1979 SFN P 34 34 10 42 1 5
1980 SFN P 31 31 14 42 1 4
1981 SFN P 18 18 11 29 1 1
1982 KCA P 31 31 14 22 2 0
1983 KCA P 19 14 3 10 0 1
1985 SFN P 33 20 7 21 2 1
1986 SFN P 28 28 3 24 2 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 502

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1978 Pitcher of the Month June
1978 TSN All-Star LHP
1978 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1976 Player of the Week Week of 1976-08-27
1971 Cy Young Award
1971 Most Valuable Player
1971 TSN All-Star LHP
1971 TSN Pitcher of the Year

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1986 SFN NL $450,000
1985 SFN NL $250,000
Total Career Earnings $700,000

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1978 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 17.0 120 1
1978 Most Valuable Player NL 12th 33.0 336 0
1976 Cy Young Award AL 6th 8.0 120 0
1976 Most Valuable Player AL 20th 10.0 336 0
1975 Cy Young Award AL 6th 2.0 120 0
1973 Cy Young Award AL 7th 1.0 120 0
1973 Most Valuable Player AL 29th 3.0 336 0
1971 Cy Young Award AL 1st 98.0 120 14
1971 Most Valuable Player AL 1st 268.0 336 14

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Vida Blue (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Orel Hershiser
    204-150, 3.48 ERA
  2. 93
    Bob Welch
    211-146, 3.47 ERA
  3. 85
    Tim Hudson
    222-133, 3.49 ERA
  4. 83
    Kevin Brown
    211-144, 3.28 ERA
  5. 78
    Dave Stieb
    176-137, 3.44 ERA
  6. 76
    Fernando Valenzuela
    173-153, 3.54 ERA

Frequently Asked Questions about Vida Blue

What years did Vida Blue play?
Vida Blue played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986.
Was Vida Blue a pitcher?
Yes. Vida Blue pitched in the major leagues, recording 209 wins and 2175 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Vida Blue hit?
Vida Blue hit 4 career home runs with 53 hits.