Mark “The Bird” Fidrych Dies

The Summer of 1976 will not be forgotten by any Detroit Tiger fans, nor any baseball fans that watched Monday night baseball at any point that season. Mark Fidrych was an absolute dynamo on the mound and he electrified the city of Detroit as well as baseball parks across the country when he pitched. The Summer of 76 is being remembered by fans across Detroit and across the country right now in fondness and with some regret as the man who was “The Bird” passed away in an accident at his home on Monday-13th April, 2009.

He will be remembered as the man who smoothed out the mound before each inning he pitched, as the man who talked to the ball, and as an energetic and wild guy on the field with the crazy hair from the 70’s. Mark Fidrych brought a lot of fun and excitement back to Detroit and back to baseball in 1976. When people were not going to the ball park because games seemed boring, and the American Leauge was beginning the designated hitter rule to make the games higher scoring Mark Fidrych made the game interesting not simply because of his quirks on the mound, but because of his energy and his talent. His rookie season he went 19-9 and pitched 24 complete games. I dare you to name the last time any pitcher did that in a season let alone find one who’s had 24 complete games in his career. He pitched like there was no tomorrow and in some ways that is exactly what he had. In 1976 he was the starter for the AL in the All Star game and was rookie of the year. He had the lowest ERA of any starter that year.

He brought a lot of excitement to the game and the city. I recall the year after there was even a song that circulated on the radio about “The Bird” that I have at home. It’s a small “45” style disc that my aunt and uncle got for me from a local radio station. I can remember the last game he started as well in 1980. I listened to it one fall evening as I threw my own ball against the steps of our house and wondered if this would be the start of his comeback. I didn’t know it then but I was listening to his last game, and he didn’t pitch well either-giving up 5 runs in less than an inning. It was a dissapointing outting and more so it was dissapointing that he was never able to regain the effectiveness and strength that he had in 1976.
Mark “The Bird” Fidrych will be missed, but more so he will be remembered by all of us here in the southeastern Michigan area for what he did for baseball and what he gave us in the season of 1976.

Mark Fidrych Passes-April 13th, 2009
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/090414&sportCat=mlb

Tigers manager Jim Leyland comments on Fidrych's passing
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090414&content_id=4263994&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Tigers Article on Fidrych's Career
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090413&content_id=4252328&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det

1976-The Year of The Bird.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090413&content_id=4257396&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det

Wednesday, April 15, 2009