Mark Fidrych has Died

[starman345]

Fidrych was always doing something with the dirt on the mound, down on his hands and knees, moving it here and there, I saw him pitch many times, he would talk to the ball, and do some really strange things, but he could pitch, I always wondered how much his antics were more about distracting hitters than just being eccentric. He had a very short career in baseball and now a shortened life...he was a standout for sure.

 

[Mr Tony]

RIP the Bird

 

[Paul Wozniak]

The most famous 29 game winner in baseball history. He was a character. RIP Bird, we hardly knew you.

 

[BillD1984]

The Bird's passing was the top story on the 10pm news in Boston last night.

 

[HD MM]

The Bird's passing was the top story on the 10pm news in Boston last night.

The Bird story was on the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer Sport's Section while the Harry announcement was on page 4!

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I was just looking at Fidrych's stats, especially for 1976 and I still can't believe it!! I know that was before pitch counts became in vogue, but did Ralph Houk run this kid ragged, or what??

• Out of his 29 starts in 1976, 24 were complete games.
• Of those 24 complete games, five were extra inning games: 10, 11 and 11.1 innings!!
• In a span of 13 days (Aug. 17 - Aug. 29) Fidrych pitched four complete games, two 9's, a 10, and an 11.1 inning. He lost the two extra inning games.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Houk killed this kid's arm in the second season. He started the season with something like 6-7 complete games before tearing his rotator cuff. He was never the same after that.

 

[AntAltMike]

....Marilyn Chambers passed away today with no cause listed. She was 56.

Who's Marilyn Chambers? She sounds familiar.

Trivia question for dirty old men: Who co-starred in Linda Lovelace's first movie?

 

[jcrandall]

I was just looking at Fidrych's stats, especially for 1976 and I still can't believe it!! I know that was before pitch counts became in vogue, but did Ralph Houk run this kid ragged, or what??

• Out of his 29 starts in 1976, 24 were complete games.
• Of those 24 complete games, five were extra inning games: 10, 11 and 11.1 innings!!
• In a span of 13 days (Aug. 17 - Aug. 29) Fidrych pitched four complete games, two 9's, a 10, and an 11.1 inning. He lost the two extra inning games.

Different time. Listening to XM 175 this morning, the league leader that year pitched 40 starts, had almost 30 complete games, and pitched 315 innings!

Very different time.

Tragedies like what happened to the Bird and his arm ending his career are why they are possibly over-portective now of young pitchers.

 

[jcrandall]

Anyone that DVR'd the Tigers vs. Whitesox game today on FSN Detroit, the game was postponed.

FSN, however, did a 30 minute special on Mark the Bird Fidrych. Had a 5 minute piece from Ernie Harwell from the archives. Good viewing...