1972 Topps #169 Vida Blue
About Vida Blue
A salary fight with Charlie Finley kept Blue out until he signed for $63,000 on May 2 and pitched for the first time on May 24. He went 6-10 with a 2.80 ERA, then saved Game 5 of the ALCS against Detroit with four scoreless innings. Topps gave him five cards: #92 with Wilbur Wood and Jim Palmer, #94 with Mickey Lolich and Wood, and #96 with Lolich and Joe Coleman in the League Leaders subset, plus #169 and the In Action card #170.
Vida Blue was a left-handed power pitcher who worked for the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals between 1969 and 1986. His fastball sat near 94 miles per hour and could reach 100. In 1971 he went 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts and won both the American League Cy Young Award and the MVP Award. He was part of the Oakland club that took five straight AL West titles from 1971 to 1975 and three consecutive World Series, 1972 through 1974. Blue made six All-Star teams and was the first of five pitchers to start the All-Star Game for both leagues, the AL in 1971 and the NL in 1978. He finished 209-161 with a 3.27 ERA and 2,175 strikeouts. Born in Mansfield, Louisiana, he was a quarterback recruited by Notre Dame, Purdue and Houston before he signed with the Athletics in 1967. After pleading guilty to attempting to buy cocaine, he was suspended for the 1984 season, then returned to the Giants for 1985 and 1986. He died in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 592 | 24 | 124 | 290 | 71 | 38 | 19 | 26 | 0 |
| SGC | 32 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More Vida Blue in this set: #92 League Leaders, #94 League Leaders, #96 League Leaders, #170 In Action
Team card: #454 Oakland A's
More Oakland Athletics cards:
- #17 Dave Duncan
- #41 Tommy Davis
- #42 Tommy Davis In Action
- #62 Angel Mangual
- #75 Bert Campaneris
- #90 1971 A.L. Home Run Leaders
- #92 1971 A.L. E.R.A. Leaders
- #94 1971 A.L. Pitching Leaders
- #96 1971 A.L. Strikeout Leaders
- #111 Jim Grant
- #137 Dick Williams
- #170 Vida Blue In Action
- #189 Gene Tenace
- #209 Joe Rudi
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #169 card?
It is card #169 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics.
How many cards are in the 1972 Topps Baseball set?
787 cards, tracked as 794 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 787 with none skipped, in six print series (#1-132, #133-263, #264-394, #395-525, #526-656 and #657-787, the high numbers); 7 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - four Chicago Cubs cards with yellow or green under the "C" and "S" of the team name, the #251 and #478 checklists with smaller or larger print on the front, and the #604 checklist with its copyright line aligned right or left.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.