1973 Topps #430 Vida Blue
About Vida Blue
Blue was back to 20-9 in 1973, with a 3.28 ERA and 158 strikeouts, well below his 1971 strikeout total. Oakland beat Baltimore in five games in the ALCS and New York in seven in the World Series, and Blue took the loss in one game of each series. His Topps #430 pictures him with the Athletics and sits in the fourth series.
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 | 424 | 10 | 104 | 218 | 47 | 22 | 13 | 9 | 1 |
| SGC | 35 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 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
Team card: #500 Oakland A's
More Oakland Athletics cards:
- #13 George Hendrick
- #38 Mike Epstein
- #60 Ken Holtzman
- #64 1972 Stolen Base Leaders
- #84 Rollie Fingers
- #155 Sal Bando
- #179 A's Field Leaders
- #201 A.L. Playoffs: Hendrick Scores Winning Run
- #203 World Series Game No. 1: Tenace the Menace
- #204 World Series Game No. 2: A's Make It Two Straight
- #206 World Series Game No. 4: Tenace Singles in Ninth
- #207 World Series Game No. 5: Odom Out at Plate
- #209 World Series Game No. 7: Campy Starts Winning Rally
- #210 World Champions (Oakland Athletics)
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #430 card?
It is card #430 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
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.