When Blue almost turns into Red
Vida Blue posing in Oakland for Sports Illustrated
Seven weeks after Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley trades prized pitcher Vida Blue to Cincinnati in December 1977 for minor league first baseman Dave Revering and $1.75 million in cash, commissioner Bowie Kuhn cancels the deal 46 years ago today.
Kuhn’s rationale: the A’s do not receive enough in return for a three-time All-Star like Blue.
Kuhn also simply does not like Finley, so this is a nice chance for him to stick a proverbial finger in either or both of Finley’s eyes.
Finley, of course, seethes as he plans to pay a lot of Oakland’s bills with that $1.75 million he is getting from the Reds for Blue.
Not the first time Finley tries to sell Blue, either.
Back in the middle of the 1976 season, Finley believes he has deals worth $3.5 million to sell Blue to the New York Yankees, as well as relief pitcher Rollie Fingers and left fielder Joe Rudi to the Boston Red Sox.
Again, Kuhn nixes the deals, saying they were not “in the best interests of baseball.”
Charlie Finley
“(Kuhn) is literally driving me out of baseball financially,” Finley later tells the Washington Post. “I've been at it for 18 years and I’d love to stay in the game. But by not allowing me to sell Vida Blue, he’s depriving me of keeping my ship afloat. I’d stand on top of the Sears Tower – the largest building in the world – waving a sign: ‘'Fire Bowie.’ ”
Another month and a half goes by in the winter of 1978 before Finley again can unload Blue, this time to San Francisco.
Rather than a cool $1.75 million in cash, the A’s on March 15 receive seven players and $300,000 from the Giants.
Given his fondness for selling his star players before they reach free agency, Finley likely would prefer the extra $1.45 million than the players he receives from the Giants – a haul that consists of the comparatively unremarkable septet of catcher Gary Alexander, outfielder Gary Thomasson, infielder Mario Guerrero; and pitchers Dave Heaverlo, Phil Huffman, John Henry Johnson and Alan Wirth.
As for Revering, the Reds eventually ship him to Oakland in a separate deal for relief pitcher Doug Bair.
As for Blue – the winner of three World Series rings in his seven full seasons in Oakland, he spends the next four summers pitching across the Bay in San Francisco.
He does quite well in those four seasons, too, winning 54 games and being selected three times to the National League All-Star team before the Giants flip him in March 1982 to Kansas City for four more players – infielder Brad Wellman, and pitchers Atlee Hammaker, Renie Martin and Craig Chamberlain.
Vida Blue in San Francisco