Lu Blue

American baseball player (1897 1958)

Luzerne Atwell "Lu" Blue (March 5, 1897 – July 28, 1958) was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, and Brooklyn Dodgers between 1921 and 1933. A native of Washington, D. C., Blue played professional baseball, principally as a first baseman, for 18 years from 1916 to 1933, including 13 years in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers from 1921 to 1932, the St. Louis Browns from 1928 to 1930, the Chicago White Sox in 1931 and 1932, and the Brooklyn Dodgers for one game in 1933. Blue was a switch hitter who had a career on base percentage of .402 and was one of the best fielding first basemen of his era. He interrupted his baseball career for military service in World War I and was later honored with burial at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2001, baseball historian Bill James ranked Blue as the 77th best first baseman of all time.

Blue was born in Washington, D. C., in 1897. He was one of two sons born to Charles H. Blue, a New Jersey native born in 1852, and Ida Mae (Reamer) Blue, a Pennsylvania native born in 1856. Blue grew up a fan of the Washington Senators. Despite discouragement from his family, who thought baseball was a waste of time, Blue was determined to play baseball. He attended Briarly Hall Military School in Poolesville, Maryland, where his play for the school's baseball team drew the attention of professional scouts. He compiled a disappointing .216 batting average in 1916, but his average jumped to .319 with a .517 slugging percentage in 1917.

In 1921, with Ty Cobb as the Tigers' new player manager, Blue finally made it to the big leagues at age 24. He immediately became the Tigers' regular first baseman, starting 152 games at the position in 1921, and compiling a .308 batting average and a .416 on base percentage. In 1927, Blue clashed with the Tigers' new manager, George Moriarty. Moriarty moved Blue from the leadoff spot to the seventh spot in the batting order. Blue's relationship with Moriarty deteriorated through the season, with Blue announcing at the end of the season that he would never play another game for the Tigers.

On December 13, 1927, the Tigers traded Blue and Heinie Manush to the St. Louis Browns in exchange for Harry Rice, Elam Vangilder and a player to be named later. Blue and Manush both became stars for the Browns. In 1928, Blue appeared in 154 games, all at first base, and compiled a .281 batting average and 80 RBIs. In 1929, Blue appeared in 151 games for the Browns, all at first base, and compiled a .293 batting average. He led the American League with 296 total times on base and ranked second with 126 bases on balls and sixth with a .422 on base percentage. He also led the American League's first basemen with 1,491 putouts and ranked fourth with 88 assists. Blue returned to the leadoff spot for the White Sox and responded with one of the best seasons of his career. He compiled a .304 batting average and ranked among the American League leaders with 15 triples (second), 127 bases on balls (second), 309 times on base (third), a .430 on base percentage (fifth), 119 runs scored (sixth) and 13 stolen bases (tenth). He also had an outstanding season defensively, leading the league's first basemen with 1,452 putouts, and ranking among the league leaders with 81 assists (third), 105 double plays turned (fourth), and a 10.14 range factor per nine innings (fourth). His 16 errors also ranked second in the league. He wound up 17th in the voting for the 1931 American League Most Valuable Player award.

On April 19, 1933, Blue was signed as a free agent by the Brooklyn Dodgers. He appeared in only one game for the Dodgers on April 25, 1933, failing to hit in a single plate appearance. Blue played 13 seasons in the major leagues and compiled a career batting average of .287 and a career on base percentage of .402. He totaled 2,365 total bases, 1,696 hits, 1,152 runs scored, 1,092 bases on balls, 319 doubles, 109 triples and 151 stolen bases. He appeared in 113 games for Toronto and compiled a .259 batting average. He was later married to Helen Blue. He later operated a chinchilla farm. He also operated one of the first "baseball schools" in the country. Blue died at his home in Alexandria, Virginia in 1958 at age 61. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Blue's cause of death was acute congestive heart failure due to bronchopneumonia with chronic arthritis as a contributing condition.