Vida: His Own Story

From dust jacket notes: "...Here is Vida Blue's own story -- an inside look at the near rookie who became an overnight sensation and a legend in his time -- a story that opens with a small boy on a neighbor's field deep in the South, and moves to the big green diamond of the Oakland A's. We see Vida grow up, and learn why he chose a career in baseball rather than pursuing his first love -- football. We watch him in action, and see him game after game, soaking that precious left arm in ice water and signing an endless stream of autographs with the right. Here he is with that controversial character Charles O. Finley engaged in the widely publicized battles and negotiations over salary, arguing, and refusing an offer of $2,000 to change his name to "True" ("Why doesn't he change his name to True O'Finley?" Blue muttered afterward). We watch Vida miss his own appearance on Laugh In to catch the football game, and see him gulp down a gallon of milk after endorsing the product. The first Black whose picture ever appeared on the front page of the Mansfield, Louisiana, hometown weekly, Vida Blue still introduces himself as Joe Namath to anyone who doesn't know....Winner of the Cy Young Award and the American League's Most Valuable Player Award for his first full season in the pros, his spectacular success prompted Sandy Koufax to say, 'I'd still rather have his future than anyone else's past...' More than just a baseball yarn of tale of rags-to-riches, Vida: His Own Story is a powerful portrait of the dehumanizing demands made on all sports idols, and how the overwhelming pressures affected one extraordinary boy -- Vida Blue -- whose future is unlimited, and whose unparalleled first professional season has secured him a permanent place in baseball history and the hearts of the fans."