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.

[1] 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.

He interrupted his baseball career for military service in World War I and was later honored with burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

[9] A switch-hitter, Blue reportedly hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in the same game during the 1917 season.

He did not make the team in 1918 and was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving at Camp Lee in Virginia during World War I.

After the war, the Tigers assigned Blue to the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League.

[9] 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.

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 leaders in the voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award three times for the Tigers: 10th in 1922, 19th in 1924, and 12th in 1925.

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.

On June 19, 1923, Blue was knocked unconscious after being hit in the head by a ball during fielding practice.

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.

[3] With former Tigers Blue and Manush in the lineup, the Browns compiled an 82-72 record and finished third in the American League.

After a poor performance in 1930, the Browns sent a new contract to Blue reducing his salary of $14,500 to less than half that amount.

[3] Blue's cause of death was acute congestive heart failure due to bronchopneumonia with chronic arthritis as a contributing condition.