RIP Vida Blue

[Starman]

My dad and I had seats in the LF corner upper deck for the 71 ASG.
The home bullpen was down the third base line so Blue was warming up there before the game, about 100 feet away from us. Despite the general pregame buzz of the crowd, I remember Blue's warmup pitches going "smack ... smack ... smack" above the background noise.

I also remember Roberto Clemente firing shots from RF across the diamond to 3B and home in warmups. He only threw about a half dozen times but people were shaking their heads.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

If you’ve got two and a half hours to yourself, do yourself a favor and watch the ‘71 All-Star Game, with commercials.



Six players hit home runs in this game, and all six are in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Starman]

It was hot as hell that night and there was a 20-25 mph wind blowing across the field from left to right (therefore right at our backs in the LF corner, but we were under the canopy so we weren't getting gusts of wind on our backs, which would have been nice).

Any fly balls hit out to left got pushed down by the wind; anything toward center or right field took off like a rocket. Including Reggie's.

 

[User 149557]

I love watching Youtube compilations of great throws from right field to third base. Might be my favorite type of play in sports.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

He's better qualified than Rube Marquard for sure and probably right in the same neighborhood as Jack Morris and several others.

Both he and Gooden had five year peak periods fairly comparable to Koufax, but Koufax's career was drastically shortened by injuries, not drugs.

Really, I don't think there were particularly any rumors that either Gooden or Blue were involved in unsavory stuff other then rumored substance abuse, which was rampant at the time and for which they were duly penalized.

I have wondered ... thanks Starman.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

If you’ve got two and a half hours to yourself, do yourself a favor and watch the ‘71 All-Star Game, with commercials.



Six players hit home runs in this game, and all six are in the Hall of Fame.

Those were the days, of the All-Star Game. The NL dominated, on account of the fact it integrated, by and large, much earlier than the American League. There were oversights, there were guys who got in on reputation, much like today ... but WINNING that thing was important.

And the National League had, in no particular order, Mays and McCovey, Seaver and Koosman, Lopes, Garvey and the Penguin, Jimmy Wynn in H-Town, Ernie Banks and Billy Williams at Wrigley, the Pittsburgh crew -- Stargell, Sanguillen and them, Mike Schmidt and "The Bull," Greg Luzinski, the Cardinals' guys ... just an amazing collection of talent.

 

[exmediahack]

When the AL won in 1983, it was a truly big deal. Atlee Hammaker was never the same.

 

[Starman]

The AL's 6-4 win in 71 was their only win in the Seventies I believe.

 

[MileHigh]

The AL's 6-4 win in 71 was their only win in the Seventies I believe.

The AL won one ASG from 1963 to 1982.

 

[Starman]

Yep, and I was there.

And I can tell my nieces I saw both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds hit home runs, and only one counted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_home_run_leaders

Of the top 10 guys on the all-time HR list, the only one I didn't see hit a home run in person was Babe Ruth.

(Update: Oops, I never saw Willie hit a homer in person. He went hitless in the ASG.)

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Integration never entered my youthful mind. To me, the NL was simply the "senior circuit" for some other reason.

To further the point, the early-1970s A's dynasty was pretty diverse as well.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

When the AL won in 1983, it was a truly big deal. Atlee Hammaker was never the same.

Highlighted (or lowlighted, if you're Atlee) by Fred Lynn's grand slam, still the only one in ASG history

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Yep, and I was there.

And I can tell my nieces I saw both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds hit home runs, and only one counted.

Fairly sure I saw Bonds homer at some point somewhere, but the last time I saw him was in 2007 and I was getting a drink when he went deep. Brilliant idea, jackass!

 

[Liut]

Highlighted (or lowlighted, if you're Atlee) by Fred Lynn's grand slam, still the only one in ASG history

Remember watching on television. Comiskey Park.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Those were the days, of the All-Star Game. The NL dominated, on account of the fact it integrated, by and large, much earlier than the American League. There were oversights, there were guys who got in on reputation, much like today ... but WINNING that thing was important.

And the National League had, in no particular order, Mays and McCovey, Seaver and Koosman, Lopes, Garvey and the Penguin, Jimmy Wynn in H-Town, Ernie Banks and Billy Williams at Wrigley, the Pittsburgh crew -- Stargell, Sanguillen and them, Mike Schmidt and "The Bull," Greg Luzinski, the Cardinals' guys ... just an amazing collection of talent.

Reminds me a bit of reading Bill (Spaceman) Lee’s biography. He made the ‘73 AL All-Star team, and said that prior to the game, AL president Joe Cronin made a speech to fire up the team because he was tired of losing.

Then Lee went to a pitchers’ meeting, where the manager asked if anyone physically could not throw that night. Lee raised his hand and the manager said that Lee had thrown several days before and should be good for a couple of innings. Lee replied, “Not against these guys.”

 

[Starman]

If you’ve got two and a half hours to yourself, do yourself a favor and watch the ‘71 All-Star Game, with commercials.



Six players hit home runs in this game, and all six are in the Hall of Fame.

Other than highlight clips on TWIB and other shows, and of course Reggie's moon shot, I never got to actually see that game as broadcast on teevee until about 40 years afterwards.

 

[Starman]

I don't recall exactly but I think the game started about 8:20 after all the pregame festivities.

Watching the tape again I remember there were dark stormy looking clouds plus a really thick steamy haze before the game.

Also I remember my dad parked our car about two blocks away down Trumbull where a friendly resident offered to "watch" it for $20.
"All I got is $10," my dad slightly fudged. "All right, I'll give you a break," Trumbull Dude said.

Happily the car was still there three hours later, with four tires.

We never mentioned the $20 of paper route money I had in my shoe.

 

[X-Hack]

I don't recall exactly but I think the game started about 8:20 after all the pregame festivities.

Watching the tape again I remember there were dark stormy looking clouds plus a really thick steamy haze before the game.

Also I remember my dad parked our car about two blocks away down Trumbull where a friendly resident offered to "watch" it for $20.
"All I got is $10," my dad slightly fudged. "All right, I'll give you a break," Trumbull Dude said.

Happily the car was still there three hours later, with four tires.

We never mentioned the $20 of paper route money I had in my shoe.

My dad always paid bottom dollar to park in a small lot on Plum Street off Trumbull. Our car was always intact afterward.

 

[X-Hack]

Checking out Vida Blue's numbers, he had a better career than I realized. I'm too young to remember his time with the A's (other than his 1977 card). I remember him making ASG appearances with the Giants in the late 70s but I had no idea he was anything special -- this was just before we got WGN or WTBS, so I rarely saw NL teams play and when I did, it usually wasn't the Giants of that era. It wasn't until Gooden broke in when I was 14 and people made the comparisons that I had any idea what Vida had been. But looking at his overall numbers, he really should have gotten a lot more Cooperstown consideration. Career 3.26 ERA, 200 wins mostly with garbage teams after his first few years, 3 20-win seasons and a bunch of 17 and 18-win seasons with those same crap teams, 6 seasons of ERAs in the 2s and only 1 full season above 3.50 over 17 years -- if Mussina and Morris are in and, for that matter, Catfish Hunter, there seems to be no really good reason why Vida was never inducted. The only category where Catfish leads Vida is wins. Catfish moved on to the Bronx Bombers of the 70s when Vida moved on to the sad-sack Giants. That had to be good for another few wins per year over the rest of the 70s.

 

[Starman]

My dad always paid bottom dollar to park in a small lot on Plum Street off Trumbull. Our car was always intact afterward.

Well, this was for the All-Star Game. For a normal midweek game with 11,000 in the stands the parking dudes probably weren't getting $10 off of anybody.