Word: vida
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ACCORDING to eyewitnesses, it "pops," "hops," "skips," "jumps," "bams," "burns," "booms," "tails," "sails," "smokes," "swoops," "sinks" or just plain "whooshes." If it sounds like a UFO, that is only because the hitters who have faced the fearsome fastball of Oakland A's Pitcher Vida Blue tend to endow it with out-of-this-world qualities. Roy White, the otherwise stable outfielder for the New York Yankees, claims that the Blue darter "speeds up on you and then seems to disappear." Kansas City Royals Third Baseman Paul Schaal swears that "it jumps right over your bat." After his world champion Baltimore...
...Orioles are no less myopic than the other American League teams that have been chasing the phantom fastballs of Vida (as in Ida) Blue (as in lightning). After losing the season opener to the Washington Senators, he won ten games in a row and became a kind of fireballing folk hero. When he posted victory No. 11 against the New York Yankees, the largest crowd to see a night game in Yankee Stadium in three years turned out for what was billed as "Blue Tuesday." Five days later, Blue won No. 12 in Washington before 40,246 fans, the Senators...
Three days later, on July 28, the hottest pitcher in baseball celebrated his 22nd birthday, then returned to the Oakland Alameda Stadium to win No. 20. As usual, the organist played Rhapsody in Blue, and as usual, Vida got off to a slow start by loading the bases in the first inning. He pitched his way out of that jam, found his groove, and went on to blank the Chicago White Sox 1-0. When he squeaked to No. 21 last week by defeating the Boston Red Sox 5-3 in extra innings, a near capacity crowd...
...lore of lefthanders is filled with tales of young fireballers like the Dodgers' Karl Spooner or Cleveland's Herb Score who, through injury or accident, ended their careers in one quick flameout. "Vida's one of those kids who come along once in a lifetime," says Posedel. "He throws awful hard, and the only thing you don't know is if his arm is ready for it." Says A's Manager Dick Williams: "I'd like to keep him in a glass case between starts...
...snap off a high, hard one with seemingly effortless ease. After dipping into a deep windup, he cocks his right knee to his shoulder, rears back until the ball is almost touching the ground behind him and then, in a whipping overhand motion, smokes it across the plate. "Vida has three things going for him," says Oakland Catcher Dave Duncan. "First, he's overpowering. Second, his ball moves. Third, he's sneaky. He has that nice, easy motion, so you think you can hit him. But you can't pick up the ball until it's too late...