One of the Most Legendary Oakland A’s is a Pitcher from Mansfield, Louisiana

After 57 years in Oakland, the A's are once again relocating. This time, the storied franchise is moving to Sacramento before ultimately settling in Las Vegas. A lot of fans are bummed about the team moving, because outside of their early years in Philadelphia, their best years came during their time in Oakland.

So, with the final set of home games at the Oakland Coliseum kicking off today against the Texas Rangers, a lot of fans are remembering the best years in franchise years history. Now, you may be thinking "what do the Oakland A's have to do with anything in Louisiana?"

The short answer: one of the key pieces to the best run in A's history from 1972-1974 was from Mansfield, Louisiana.

Who Was Vida Blue?

Vida Blue, arguably, was one of the most dominating pitchers of the 70s. He also happened to be from Mansfield, Louisiana in DeSoto Parish. Just to illustrate Blue's abilities and why he was drafted by the (then) Kansas City A's in 1967, during his senior year at DeSoto High, Blew threw a no-hitter with 21 strikeouts...in just 7 innings! The guy was untouchable!

Also, little known fact, Blue was a pretty darn good football player too. His senior year he threw for 3400+ yards, 35 touchdown passes and also ran for 1,600+ yards. He was heavily recruited by teams like Notre Dame, Purdue and Houston to play football, but ultimately chose to sign with the A's to help support his family after the death of his father.

To sum it up - this Louisiana native was a freak athlete. And that little bit of background sets the stage for what he was able to accomplish for the Oakland A's.

Vida Blue's Run From Mansfield, Louisiana to Become the Best Pitcher in Baseball

You're probably thinking to yourself "Vida's not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, how can you call him the best pitcher in baseball?". He may not be the greatest to ever do it...but for about a 5 year period, nobody could touch him. But, we'll get to that in a second.

As noted above, Blue was a 2nd round draft pick in the 1967 MLB draft out of Mansfield High by the KC A's. Over the next 2 years, the A's relocated to Oakland and Vida worked his way through the minor leagues. He got called up briefly in 1969 but came up to stay 1970. He was a September call-up for the Oakland A's and IMMEDIATELY showed the world what he was capable of. He made 2 starts for the A's in 1970: On September 11, 1970 - he had complete game shut out, giving up only one hit in the 8th inning of that game. Ten days later, he became the 4th youngest pitcher in Major League history to throw a no hitter...and he did it by completely shutting down the reigning AL West Champion Minnesota Twins - who went on to repeat in 1970.

The point: in two starts, he showed the world he was a special talent. Before we get to his incredible seasons from 71-74, let's add a little context to his special abilities. Vida was called by baseball historian Bill James as the hardest throwing lefty and the 2nd hardest throwing pitcher of his era, behind only Nolan Ryan. So, yeah...pretty good company.

In 71, after making a huge impression in his two starts in 1970, Vida showed he wasn't just the best pitcher in baseball but the best player in baseball. Let's just run through his stats - 24-8 record, AL leading 1.82 ERA, eight shutouts and he struck out 301 on his way to win both the AL Cy Young and MVP award. Oh...and he also lead the league in complete games with 24. Guy was OFF the charts good.

1972 was a bit of a different story. He missed a large chunk of the season over a pay dispute with A's ownership. And when they finally worked that out, he was good not great. As 'punishment' for holding out, he wasn't a member of the A's post season starting rotation. But, he made 4 World Series appearances which included a save on the A's run to a World Series win. From there, Blue and the A's were off to the races. From 73-75, he had two 20 win seasons and the A's won 3 consecutive World Series from 72-74.

Unfortunately for Blue, he and the owner of the A's couldn't get along. The fought over pay and usage. Before the era of free agency, the A's tried to trade Blue and sell his contract to both the Yankees and Reds, but both moves were vetoed by the Commissioner of baseball. Eventually with the advent of modern free agency and the Commissioner's office easing the rules on trades, Blue was sent to the San Francisco Giants in 1978. He had some good years with Giants and some rough ones with the Royals.

But those peak years in Oakland were dominant. Not quite as good as the 5 year stretch Sandy Koufax had with the Dodgers, but in the neighborhood.

Should Vida Blue Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Let's start here - Vida has gotten plenty of recognition since he retired in February 1987. He's in both the A's & Giants Hall of Fame.

Now, to answer the question above, should Mansfield, Louisiana Native Vida Blue be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Personally, I'd say it's close and at the very least his name should come up for a little additional discussion.

The old way of thinking was you had to achieve at least a couple of pitching benchmarks to be considered: 250 career wins, multiple Cy Youngs, an ERA around a 3.00, multiple All-Star appearances, over 2,000 strikeouts. And by those standards, Vida probably falls a bit short. He had a great career. 209 wins, 3.27 ERA, 2,175 strikeouts, 6 All-Stars, an MVP, and a Cy Young.

In the modern era, writers and committee members are viewing pitching slightly different and easing some of those hardline benchmarks. According to the 'Hall of Fame Monitor' that grade stats and assign them a point value. 100 points indicates a likely Hall of Fame member. Blue scores 117. So, again, right there on the border.

Also, because of some of his fights and punishments from management, he's being punished for not having certain benchmarks when the man was just trying to get what he thought was an a fair deal (the A's were notoriously cheap, which is why when free agency became a thing, most of their star players left immediately).

But, a Hall of Fame inductions aren't based on what should have been, they're based on performance and stats. Although, based strictly on stats, his aren't all that different from teammate Catfish Hunter who IS in the Hall of Fame. Hunter went 224-166 with 3.26 ERA over 15 Years. Could some of his personal issues be the deciding factor? Who knows.

What I do know is that he probably deserves another look somewhere down the road.