Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball's biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash Oakland Athletics to three straight World Series titles, has died. He was 73.
The A's said Blue died Saturday but didn't give a cause of death.
Blue was voted the 1971 American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA.
Blue finished 209-161 with a 3.27 ERA ad 2,175 strikeouts over 17 seasons with Oakland, San Francisco and Kansas City (1982-83).
He was 22 at the time he won MVP, the youngest to win the award. He remains among just 11 pitchers to win MVP and Cy Young in the same year.
