The Bird

By Nick Hall

Most baseball fans my age, have never heard of Mark Fidrych.  Until around 10 years ago, I never had either.  I grew up from the ripe age of 0 being around baseball.  As I divulged in an earlier post, a close family friend was a professional baseball player.  My uncle and my great grandfather played in the minors.  I played from the time I was able to walk.

I was in my freshman year of college and I was taking a sports literature class.  We got an opportunity to write a paper about a professional athlete of our choice.  The only stipulation was that the player had to be from a past generation and no longer active in their sport.  I was immediately excited.  I remembered my dad telling me about all the baseball players he grew up watching, and his passion when telling me about them.  He was at the game when Pete Rose broke the hit record.  He tried to name me Ernie and my older brother Hank after Ernie Banks and Hank Aaron, but my mother shot that down.  My youth would have been way different, but now I think it would be cool if my name were Ernie.

The weekend came and I called my dad.  We got to talking and I told him I was writing a paper about a baseball player, but I couldn't decide who.  He immediately said, "you should look up Mark Fidrych".  I had never heard the name, so he gave me a brief overview.  All I took away from the conversation was that he was a pitcher in the 70's, a little quirky and short lived.  I almost passed it off, because in my mind that wasn't significant.  I needed a Hall of Famer.  Luckily, I was curious enough to at least Google him.  The rest is what I found out.

Mark Fidrych was not a little quirky.  He was all quirky.  He was intense and he may have loved the game more than anyone who ever played it.  Sometimes when I think back on it, I can't help but think that maybe he was in a situation like the movie "Big".  A child in a mans body, only he happened to be in the shoes of a major league ball player.  After you read the rest, that statement will make more sense if I do Mr. Fidrych Justice.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych made his Major League debut on April 20, 1976.  He made his last appearance on  October 1, 1980.  In 1977 he sustained an injury to his shoulder that was unknown.  He pitched out the season and struggled to get healthy over the next few years until his retirement due to the injury.  It wasn't until 1985, five years after his retirement, that it was diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff.  If only he were pitching in this era, modern medicine would have diagnosed that right away and he may have only missed a season and been back out there.  That's the quick back story, lets talk about 1976.

In 1976, The Bird had an OK year.  He had a good spring with the Tigers.  About half way into the first month of the regular season, they called him up and put him in the bullpen.  He wouldn't make his first start until mid-May because the scheduled starter had the flu.  He started the game with 6 innings of no-hit baseball and finished the game with a 2-1, complete game victory.  The rest is history.  He finished the season with 19-9 record.  He led the league with a 2.34 ERA.  Oh, and he threw 24 complete games, won Rookie of the Year, finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting, and 11th in the MVP voting. Like I said, an OK year.

The stats are impressive, but they are not what made Mark Fidrych memorable.  They helped, but they were secondary. Remember that first game I told you about? The 2 hit complete game victory?  Something was happening that night.  Mark was running around the infield, thanking the position players for routine groundouts, he was talking to the ball and himself, he was on hands and knees on the mound patting it down, and he was sensational to boot. Fans and players alike were unsure what to think.  Rico Carty of the opposing Indians was quoted at the end of the game as saying that mark was "trying to hypnotize them".

Sports are not now, what they were then to the players or the fans.  Fans get up now for playoff games or a heated rivalry game every now and then, to the point where you feel like it is something of a special atmosphere to be at a game like that.  Back then, sports figures were heroes.  They were heroes for being sports stars.  It's not like that now, we know too much about them.  Certain sports networks have turned into satellite stations for TMZ.  We know where Derek Jeter went shopping on Thursday, and who A-Rod is dating.  Athletes aren't popular for being great at their sport, they are popular for being "hot" or funny on Twitter.  It is sad. In 1976, it seemed that people didn't know much about these sports figures, but it seemed for the better.  These fans worried about their own problems throughout the normal week, and then if they were lucky enough to get out to a Tiger's game, or any other team for that matter, it was time to let go and enjoy themselves.  Every game was an event, and often electric.  It didn't matter where their favorite sports star ate dinner the night before, all that mattered was that he did what it took to help the team win. That's what Mark did, and the Motor City latched on for one crazy summer.

The Bird was electric every time he took the mound, in any city that he pitched in from that point. In August of that year, The Bird pitched in front of 51,822 fans at Tiger Stadium......on a Tuesday.  On a Tuesday night in July that year, he drew over 30,000 people to a road game against the Twins in Minneapolis.  "Bird Mania" they called it.  Everyone had to go see The Bird pitch in any city.  They had to see with their own eyes some "crazy" guy running around the infield, talking to the ball, and talking to thin air.  Did I mention that everyone wanted an interview with the guy after the games.  He was equally as entertaining in that light.  He once gave up a HR to Carl Yastrzemski at Fenway.  When asked about it after the game, he said this:  "It blew my mind. It blew my god damn mind. Just because.... hey the only reason it blew my mind was because, here I am, goin', I'm in front of my.... Fenway Park."

I could go on and on.  I could tell you that he threw two 11 inning complete games.  I could tell you all about his last 4 seasons after his rookie year, where he tried to make a comeback from an unkown arm injury but couldn't.  I could tell you for those four years he was not good, but even in 1980, four years after that electric summer, over 48,000 fans showed up at Tigers Stadium for a game in August.  It was his last attempt he would make at a comeback, and the faithful "Bird Mania" followers showed up in droves hoping the magic would be back.  I could tell you all of this and more, but I would rather show you.

The video below is from a June, 1976 game against the Yankees.  The Bird threw a complete game and beat the Yankees.  The video shows the last out of the game, and a restless crowd going absolutely wild over a relatively meaningless game in the first half of the season.  Seeing this is what captivated me.  I have heard many post game interviews he did, I have seen a ton of video clips of him talking the ball and running around.  I have heard him described as quirky, wild, great, funny, crazy, insane, nuts, intense, odd, and everything else.  The best word I can think of to describe him is "genuine".  He never changed.  The Bird may have run around like a madman, but he was never playing to a crowd.  He was talking to the ball and himself to satisfy something within himself.  When you hear him talk in interviews after the games, it was almost like you could wait for him to reveal the punchline, but he never did, because it wasn't a joke.  It was just how he was, The Bird.

It is hard to capture into words everything that I said Mark was.  My best advice is the advice my dad gave me: "look him up". I now know why he told me that rather than try to spend hours explaining it.  You just have to see it to believe it. Enjoy the video.