Word: vida
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Sunglasses Day, Hot Pants Day, Wild West Day, Honor America Day, Latin America Day, A-Students Day, Plattsburgh Day. The day has also come when the baggy woolen uniforms of old are giving over to the pajama-like stretch-nylon duds worn by the Pittsburgh Pirates. In Oakland, Vida Blue & Co. turn out in uniforms of Kelly green and California gold with kangaroo-leather spikes dyed wedding-gown white...
...this the national pastime? Not really. Though the gals and giveaways undoubtedly help to fill some empty seats, any club owner would trade in his erupting Scoreboard tomorrow for one 20-game winner. "Give me a day with Vida Blue," says Senators' Vice President Joe Burke, "and 20,000 people will find their way to the stadium." Finley, the Barnum of baseball, is the first to agree: "You've got to have a good team. You can't ballyhoo a funeral...
Coming in the heyday of the hitter, Vida Blue's success is all the more remarkable. It also points out one of the happy paradoxes of the game: while many fans prefer the action of a double rattling off the wall, just as many dote on that subtle little duel between hurler and hitter. Baseball has its troubles?shaky franchises, feuding owners, player dissents?but as long as its basic appeals thrive, so too will the game...
...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...
...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...