The Blue Blazer

The Oakland Athletics seem to have a thing about colorful names. To be sure, Blue Moon Odom is on the injury list, but that still leaves a trio of starting pitchers named Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter and Siggy Segui. Although their combined record is a mediocre ten wins and eight losses and the team's batting average is an anemic .244, the A's are rolling along with a five-and-a-half-game lead in the West Division of the American League. How come? The main reason is a 21-year-old lefthanded fireballer with a moniker made for the Oakland roster. The name--mark it well--is Vida Blue.

Last week Vida (as in Ida) Blue (as in streak) set down the world champion Baltimore Orioles with four hits to register his eighth straight victory, against one defeat. He now leads the American League in earned-run average (1.01), strikeouts (78), shutouts (4) and complete games (8). His approach is devastatingly simple: "I blow them down"--meaning he pitches fastballs 80% of the time. "I don't try to finesse a batter," he says. "I just try to hit the corners or jam a guy and break his bat. I enjoy breaking a guy's bat." He enjoys it so much that he runs to the mound every inning. Once there, he talks to himself constantly, rehashing each batter's weaknesses. "When I'm going good," he says matter-of-factly, "I don't believe there is a batter who can hit me." The Orioles' Frank Robinson tends to agree: "You know what Blue's going to throw and you still can't catch up to it."

Blue is not the sole reason for Oakland's success. Dick Williams, their new no-nonsense manager--the team's eleventh in the past eleven years--has taught the erratic, phlegmatic A's to think positive. Confidence has never been a problem for "my little Sandy Koufax," as Williams likes to call Blue--with one qualifier. "Koufax didn't become a pitcher for six years," says Williams. "Vida's there already."

Too Rough. Baseball scouts knew where Vida was when, as a schoolboy in Mansfield, La., he struck out 21 batters in a seven-inning game. Football scouts were already trailing him, especially after he threw 35 touchdown passes in his senior year at DeSoto High. Turning down football scholarship offers from 25 colleges, he signed with the A's for a $50,000 bonus. After leading the American Association in strikeouts, he was brought up to Oakland late last season. In his first game, Blue, one of the few switch-hitting pitchers in baseball, clouted a three-run homer to help the A's to a 7-4 win. In his second outing he hurled a one-hitter. Then in his fourth start, he stunned the slugging Minnesota Twins with a no-hitter. Asked how many victories he thinks Blue will have this season, Williams answers: "How many starts will he have?"

Actually, if Vida were to continue at his present torrid pace, he would amass more than 40 wins. But not even Vida is that confident. Every time he pitches he superstitiously puts two dimes into his pocket to "represent the hope of 20 wins." By that standard, he still seems a little cheap. At the very least, Vida Blue promises to be a two-bit pitcher.

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