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Lot
80097

1971 Vida Blue American League Cy Young Award....

2012 August 2 Vintage Sports Collectibles Platinum Night Signature Auction- Baltimore #7057

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Auction Ended On: Aug 2, 2012
Item Activity: 9 Internet/mail/phone bidders Number of Bidders
818 page views
Location: B & O Warehouse, 6th Floor
Camden Yard Banquet Room
333 West Camden Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Description:
"It's easy, man. I just take the ball and throw. Hard! It's a God-given talent! No one can teach it to you. They either hit it or they don't."
1971 Vida Blue American League Cy Young Award. Though this fan favorite southpaw cracked the top ten for Cy Young voting five times during his seventeen-season career, the presented hardware represents his one and only campaign to top that ballot. His dominance was predicated on a blazing fastball that could occasionally light up a third digit on the radar gun, earning him a deserved reputation as the hardest throwing lefty in the game. Of his contemporaries, only Strikeout King Nolan Ryan struck greater fear into opposing batters with pure, blazing velocity. But his 1971 numbers rank among the most impressive ever registered in the post-war era: twenty-four victories against eight defeats, twenty-four complete games including eight shutouts, over three hundred strikeouts and an American League-low 1.82 earned run average. He was the starting pitcher in the 1971 All-Star Game for the Junior Circuit.

Blue also claimed American League MVP honors this season, one of just seven pitchers to earn both trophies in a single season, but the mystique of the Cy Young is one that surpasses even that arguably more competitive prize. Much like membership in that brotherhood of winners, ownership of one of the rare few Awards to have surfaced in the collecting hobby instantly affirms elite status. In both regards, it is an instantly recognizable symbol of ultimate achievement. The award presents marvelously, with no distractions of wear from four decades of display beyond minimal and easily reversible tarnishing of the silver affixed to the black wooden backing. Included is a personally signed letter of provenance from Blue himself.

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Service and Handling Description: Miscellaneous Collectibles, Large (view shipping information)

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