“Sometimes in this Game being lucky is good – in the sense of important – at least as good as being good at playing”
When the Oakland A’s drafted him, they paid him $25,000. “Where I come from, in Louisiana – he said – I am a trillion”. Also because his father had died at 45, he had 5 younger brothers, he had stopped playing and only a scholarship saved his career
He never said that thing about the trillion because Charles Finley gave him a starvation wage for a while
“Because to him I was a damn black player”
A player who won though
3 World Series with the Oakland A’s
He pitched a no-hit, at 21
(Plus another one to share)
Played six All Star Games
He was Richard Nixon’s favorite player
In his career he finished at
209–161
He’s had more than a few problems with cocaine
(when he was in Pittsburgh it turned out that the drug dealer was the mascot…)
“It’s because of cocaine that I’m not in the Hall of Fame. Yet I also know of some white boy who used it and who ended up in the Hall of Fame anyway…”
VIDA BLUE is gone
One of the best-named heroes in MLB history
One who, to give an idea, one day said:
“In my life I believe I have signed a piece of paper to every man, woman and child in the United States”
He was 73 years old