First Baseman For The Detroit Tigers: 1921-1927
In 1921, with Ty Cobb as the Tigers’ new player-manager, Blue finally made it to the big leagues at age 24. Blue credited Cobb with improving his performance as a hitter. Cobb taught him to study pitchers and to become a student of the game.
Blue hit .308 in his first season with Detroit and remained entrenched as the Tigers’ starting first baseman for seven seasons, 1921-1927. Blue was a reliable hitter in his years at Detroit, hitting above .300 four times, including a .311 season in 1924. He finished among the top vote getters in the American League Most Valuable Player voting three times for the Tigers: 10th in 1922, 19th in 1924, and 12th in 1925. In addition to hitting for average, Blue had a keen eye and a talent for drawing bases on balls. He was among the league leaders in bases on balls ten times in his career (1921–23, 1925–31). He finished his career with 1,092 walks – 67th best in major league history.
Driven in part by his ability to draw walks, Blue was also among the league leaders in on base percentage four times, including a career-high .430 on base percentage in 1931 – 2nd best in the American League. Lu's career on base percentage was .402 – 115 points above his .287 career batting average.
With his ability to get on base, Blue was also a top run scorer, with 1,151 runs scored in his career, including six seasons with 100 or more runs and a career-high 131 runs as the leadoff hitter for the 1921 Detroit Tigers.
Blue was also an excellent fielding first baseman. In 1,571 games at first base, Blue had 15,644 putouts and a career Range factor of 10.60 – almost 3.00 full points above the league average of 7.64 for first basemen in his era. In 1922, his range factor was 11.2 – more than 4.20 points higher than the league average of 6.94. He had 1,506 putouts in 1922 and led American League first basemen in putouts in 1929 (1,491) and 1931 (1,452). He also led American League first basemen in assists in 1928 (107) and double plays (121). Often among the league leaders in fielding percentage, Blue would get to balls other first baseman could not touch. On September 8, 1922, Blue had two unassisted double plays in a single game.
Blue was also a tough player – an attribute valued by Detroit's player-manager Ty Cobb. On June 23, 1923, Blue was knocked unconscious after being hit in the head by a ball during fielding practice. Blue nevertheless went to bat in the 1st inning and hit a single to right field. Blue was woozy from the pre-game blow and barely made it to first base. The Yankees agreed to allow a courtesy runner, and Blue later returned to finish the game.
In 1927, Blue clashed with the Tigers’ new manager, George Moriarty. Moriarty moved Blue from the leadoff spot to the 7th 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.
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