To people not old enough to remember when Richard Nixon was frantically trying to fend off impeachment and removal from the White House the exploits of one Vida Blue in the summer of 1971 can hardly be overstated. The youngster electrified the baseball world that spring and summer as he mowed down American League batters en route to posting a 24-8 record a minuscule 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts to win the AL Cy Young and MVP awards. Two years after Major League Baseball had lowered the mound due to the dominance of Bob Gibson and Denny McClain it was the brash young Vida Blue who turned everyone's heads. Blues historic '71 season paved the way for the As three-year run as World Series champions from 1972-74 and this spectacular pullover road jersey hails from that season when the team nailed down the first of three consecutive titles. In fact photos prove that Blue wore it in Game One of the 1972 World Series at Cincinnati. After his breakthrough '71 season Blue and A's owner Charlie Finley clashed over his salary forcing Blue to hold out much of the year. He pitched better than his 6-10 record indicated posting a 2.80 ERA in 25 starts. In the postseason Blue pitching mainly in relief. In the Fall Classic with the A's leading the Reds 3-2 in the 7th inning of Game One Blue came on and closed it out for a key save. He allowed one hit and one walk over 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

The gold knit pullover has the distinctive "A's" on the front in white and green tackle twill and his famed No. 35 alongside in the same fashion (and on the back). McAuliffe tagging appears on the bottom front inside with flag tags of "1972" embroidered in red and size "42" in navy blue below. A wash instructions tag also appears on the front inside right tail. His name is across the back in green tackle twill affixed directly to the shirt. Green elastic striping accents the sleeves while white and green elastic is at the collar. All original and unaltered the shirt boasts incredible wear with heavy fraying of the white and green stitching front and back as well as his white numbers on back. Several distinct creases on the back numbers particularly two on the '5' can easily be photo-matched to Getty image 81392781. This is a museum-worthy World Series game-worn piece from one of baseball's true 1970's legends. Jersey was originally procured by a collector in Berkeley CA in 1981 with ties to A's players.