Mark "The Bird" Fidrych's Magical 1976 Season

Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers, for one season, was the most exciting... ... athlete in America. The Bird... Mark Fidrych was one of the most fascinating, intriguing and just plain COOL players in baseball history, starring for a pretty bad Tiger club during the rebuilding phase of the mid 1970s.

What made the Bird a master showman- who could pack ballparks from coast to coast- was the fact that he didnt even know or care that he was performing and all of it was natural. Thats what those huge crowds came to see!

Talking to the ball getting down on his hands and knees to groom the mound shaking hands with teammates after they made big plays his dizzy, goofy, everybodys pal attitude- It was all 100% real and thats what made him such a fan favorite.

The Bird was goofing around in Massachusetts, playing high school ball when he was drafted by the Tigers at #232 in 1974 their #1 pick was Lance Parrish, so they did all right that year- better than in a lot of those drafts- with 2 big stars, but with vastly different careers.

and while the Tigers really struggled in 75, Fidrych was making his way up the minor league ladder first at A Lakeland, going only 5-11, then to AA Montgomery and finally arriving at Triple A Evansville in late summer pitching very well and attracting attention- a whole minor league training career crammed into just one season. Many thought he had a chance to make the big league squad in 76.

and he did! The Tigers kept him when camp broke, dropping Dave Lemanezyk whod pitched in the bigs in 75- Manager Ralph Houk liked what he saw in the Florida Winter League and was convinced the kid was a big leaguer.

But he was put on the back burner all the way until May 15 when his first start came against the fighting Tribe of Cleveland and he was an immediate success and sensation the antics- pointing the ball toward its intended path, circling the mound, refusing the grounds crews help and grooming the hill himself- all that was different, but, more importantly, he held the Indians hitless through 6 and ended up with a 2-1 victory. Even the Indians were amused- and distracted- by his antics. Veteran Rico Carty put it best: The more he does, the more you want to hit him and the more you want to hit him, the worse you get. How can you hit when youre laughing? A crowd of slightly over 14,000 was lucky enough to say they were there for his first big league W!

But he was put on the shelf again- didnt pitch again for 10 days until he got a start in Boston, losing to the Red Sox, but only giving up 2 runs on 6 hits in hitter-happy Fenway but by then Houk and the Tigers began to know that they had something special and The Bird was entered into the starting rotation. After the Boston loss, he came back to pitch on May 31, a Monday night, at the Stadium and beat the Brewers 5-4 pitching 11 complete innings on a thrilling comeback won with Tom Veryzers single his record stood at 2-1 and talk was really heating up all around baseball about this guy.

and amazingly another 11 inning complete game win followed at Texas, allowing the Rangers only 2 runs on 7 hits. Its hard to imagine a guy going 11 full these days, much less twice in a row!

Birdmania really showed up for the first time on a Friday night at the old ballpark June 11 brought 36,377 fans to watch two teams with under .500 records- well not really they all came to see the Bird and Fidrych did not disappoint them. Again he goes the distance, giving up only 1 earned run for his 4th straight win. Another thriller at the Stadium followed as old pro Mickey Stanley singled in the winning run in the last inning for another complete game victory- the Bird has now won 5 in a row! and it wasnt luck, not according to many guys who really knew baseball. Baltimore coach Jim Frey said :He doesnt pitch like a kid at all.. .he knows exactly what hes doing. Hes dumb like a fox.

A couple of road wins at Minnesota and Boston made him the hottest pitcher in the majors and ready for the big nationally televised game against the AL Champion Yankees in Detroit and this one was special! A mob of 47,855 showed up to see the new sensation in action and again, he did not disappoint. It was an absolutely electric atmosphere as the Bird dominated the Bombers in a 5-1 victory. The huge throng called him out after the victory with We want Fidrych cheers and he was the first player to be called out in such a way since McLain won #30 back in 68. He was now, not only the talk of baseball, but the talk of just about everybody, everywhere. It seemed like itd go on forever, but the baseball Gods had other plans.

but that was for later. A Saturday night shutout of Baltimore in Detroit followed before over 50,000 and another full house watched his next start his streak was finally snapped but he pitched another complete game and certainly well enough to win as the Tigers lost 1-0, bringing his record to 9-2. But he atoned for that mistake by beating Oakland in his next start, after the all star game, 1-0 -another 11 inning complete game in front of another huge turnout the kid was becoming a money machine for the Tigers, paying off bigger than any gate attraction in the teams history.

Almost unheard of, a rookie was picked to be the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game held this year in Philadelphia a strong Michigan connection with 3 Tigers and President Gerald Ford from Grand Rapids Fidrych wanted to meet Fords son, Steve and get the lowdown on his dates with tennis star Chris Evert while Ford joked, "Dont talk to those fellows talk to the old man. That strange meeting was the All Star highlight for the Bird as he gave up 2 runs in 2 innings and was tagged with the loss, but it was still a thrill for Fidrych: In my whole life I never played in an all-star game before. Not in Little League or high school, the minors or anywhere.

But if Fidrych wasnt a big league star, hed be just another young kid in a small town, probably working in a gas station, looking for girls and living in a bare-bones apartment even now he admits "Sometimes I let the dishes pile up, but they dont get too high Ive only got four dishes. Only making the minimum salary of $16,000, he felt the need to live somewhat frugally, driving a subcompact car instead of a truck "Thats me Im a truck guy.

He got the nickname back in rookie ball in 74 from one of his teammates who noticed that Fidrych bore a strong resemblance to the Sesame Street character Big Bird. The name stuck it was a natural, although no one seems to remember the exact individual who came up with it.

and a book was being readied for the printers Go, Bird, Go!, will be on the shelves in midsummer Advised that Yankee catcher Thurman Munson had called him bush, Fidrych replied, They can call me bush or they can call me turkey but my teammates dont and theyre the ones who count.

He was turning into one of the greatest gate attractions of all time, drawing 5 times what the Tigers would normally get no one in the teams history ever packed them in like The Bird maybe no one in major league history had that sort of gate appeal in the summer of 76 his first 13 starts averaged over 42,000 per game (and that includes the first two before BirdMainia really caught on) Veteran baseball man and White Sox manager Paul Richards said Babe Ruth didnt cause that much excitement in his brightest day.

The Birds personal catcher, Bruce Kimm was enjoying the ride called up in April to replace the injured Milt May, Kimm caught Fidrychs first game and continued from that point- the manager knew a good thing when he saw it!

and at the end of 1976, he ended up with a stellar record- of 19 wins against only 9 losses with an ERA of 2.34 which led all American League startersRookie of the Year imagine what he would have done if hed have started in April instead of May. He drew 605,677 fans to Tiger Stadium in only 19 starts an average of over 30,000 which was extraordinary in those days!

After all that, many thought hed hire an agent, demand the big bucks, but not The Bird got a 3 year contract and was very happy with it. I could have signed a one-year contract for a lot of money, but what if I died out next year? was his prophetic comment. Actually he ended up doing quite well as a rookie- endorsements and a $34,500 bonus which was given to him in September. The Tigers are nice people, he said. They took care of me. I wouldnt be here if they didnt.

but if it all seemed too good to be true, maybe it was. Spring training of 77 brought high hopes, but little good news he injured his knee in early March while running in the outfield and was immediately sent to Detroit for surgery to repair torn cartilidge out until at least June how many wins and $$ would that cost the team?

He came back in June and pitched a few good games he went 6-4 with a nice 2.89 ERA, but hurt his arm on July 12 and was shut down for the season at the time, the Tigers and their doctors didnt think it was a career threatening injury.

But he never really came back.

Always claiming he was in no pain and just a bit away from his return to form, Fidrych remained the optimist, but it was always one thing after another he hung around trying for the comeback for a few more years in Detroit before Boston gave him a shot scared all of us Tiger fans that hed come back big with Boston, but we all still rooted for him.

We got a kick out of seeing him from time-to-time he appears to have done well, running a small company, driving a truck, and doing most of the work himself he came back for the last game of Tiger Stadium, patted the mound and put on a bit of his act and we loved it.

I dont want to dwell on the downside of his too-short career prefer to focus on that great year of 1976 when he turned the world upside down.

Detroit Tiger Baseball History.com

Mark Winters is a lifetime Detroit Tigers fan living in Hudsonville, Michigan

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