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As if passing with either hand were not enough, Blue was also the team's best runner. "I remember when we played Booker T. Washington in Shreveport," says Baldwin. "We were ahead 13-0 at the half, and it started raining cats and dogs. So Vida ran the ball the whole second half; every play we had the ball he ran. We won 13-0." In his final season, Blue passed for 3,484 yds. Averaging 10.3 yds. a carry, he ran for 1,600 yds. more to pile up a total one-man offense of 5,084 yds.
New Man of the House "How good a football player was I?"
says Blue. "I think I could have made any college team in the country." Scouts from more than two dozen colleges agreed. Notre Dame wanted him. Purdue wanted him. Grambling wanted him.
But Blue, who had spent most of his young life visualizing himself as Johnny Unitas, leaned toward the University of Houston, especially when Houston Coach Bill Yoeman proclaimed: "This young fellow is going to be the first big-name black quarterback. He's going to be the best lefthanded passer since Frankie Albert. That name alone will sell tickets."
As it happened, Mrs. Sallie Blue needed Vida more than Houston did. Vida Blue Sr. died, and Mrs. Blue told her elder son, "Now, Junior, you're the man of the house." Recalls Vida: "We had always had a happy, decent family life, but suddenly there we were with no real means of support. I had to do things that would show my brother and sisters that I could be a leader." He got his chance after Oakland Scout Connie Ryan saw him pitch one night in Mansfield and excitedly reported back to Finley: "He is the best lefthander I have seen in nine years of scouting."
In short order, Finley was on the telephone offering Vida a reported $35,000 bonus to sign with the A's. It was an agonizing decision, but as Coach Washington advised him, a payday in pro football was a long way off. Blue signed with the A's, spent part of his bonus remodeling the house on Mary Street, and then started throwing.
Farmed out to the Burlington, Iowa, Bees, he led the Midwest League in strikeouts with 231 and pitched a no-hitter. Moving on to Birmingham in 1969, he was briefly called up to the A's where as a spot starter he pitched 42 innings and, failing to effectively mix up his pitches, compiled a horrendous earned-run average of 6.21. After leading the American Association in strikeouts, he was brought up again last September.
Blue recalls: "The first time I came up, it was like going into enemy grounds with out knowing where the minefields were.
But when I came back I knew where to put my feet down with sufficient caution." The first thing to explode was, of all things, his bat. In his first start, Blue, one of the few switch-hitting pitchers in baseball, cracked a three-run homer to help the A's to a 7-4 win. In his second outing, he hurled a one-hitter against Kansas City. His fourth time out he stunned the hard-hitting Minnesota Twins with a no-hitter. The Blue Blazer was on his way.
$13,000-a-Year Hireling