Mark Fidrych

Mark Steven Fidrych (August 14, 1954 – April 13, 2009), nicknamed "the Bird", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers.

He was named the starter, at the time becoming just the second rookie to start an All-Star game following Dave Stenhouse in 1962.

Fidrych gave up two earned runs in the first inning, none in the second, and took the loss.

Just three days later, on July 16, Fidrych won his tenth game, a 1–0 victory over the A's. Four days later in Minnesota, before Fidrych's thirteenth start, the Twins released thirteen homing pigeons on the mound before the game.

According to Fidrych, "they tried to do that to blow my concentration."

Fidrych pitched another complete game, an 8–3 win, and improved his record to 11–2.

On Saturday, July 24, Fidrych surrendered four earned runs on nine hits and lasted only 41⁄3 innings; John Hiller got the win for the Tigers in long relief on the Game of the Week.

After the game, Fidrych was interviewed on live television, and a small controversy arose when Fidrych said "bullshit" on the air.

Fidrych recalled: "He (NBC commentator Tony Kubek) said, it looked like you were gonna cry. I just said, No, I wasn't about to cry. I was just bullshit.... And then I said, excuse me. I said, I didn't mean to swear on the air but I just showed you my feelings."

The next day, Fidrych received a telegram informing him he had been fined $250 by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn; however, it was a prank sent by his own teammates.

On July 29 and August 7, Fidrych threw consecutive six-hit complete games.

He won one of the games and lost the other.

In the 1974 amateur draft he was selected in the 10th round by the Detroit Tigers.

He later joked that when he received a phone call informing him that he had been drafted, he thought he was drafted into the armed services, not thinking there were any Major League teams considering him.

In the minor leagues one of his coaches with the Lakeland Tigers dubbed the lanky 6-foot-3 right-handed pitcher "The Bird" because of his resemblance to the "Big Bird" character on the popular Sesame Street television program.

In his third appearance, on May 15, Fidrych made his first major league start, caught by Bruce Kimm, his batterymate in 1975 at Triple A Evansville.

He held the Cleveland Indians hitless through six innings and ended up with a two-hit, 2–1 complete game victory, with one walk and five strikeouts.

In addition to his pitching, Fidrych attracted attention in his debut for talking to the ball while on the pitcher's mound, strutting in a circle around the mound after every out, patting down the mound, and refusing to allow groundskeepers to fix the mound in the sixth inning.

After the game, sports writer Jim Hawkins wrote in the Detroit Free Press: "He really is something to behold."

Rico Carty of the Indians said he thought Fidrych "was trying to hypnotize them."

On May 25 at Fenway Park in Boston, Fidrych started his second game in front of two busloads of fans who traveled from Fidrych's hometown of Northborough.

Fidrych pitched well, allowing two earned runs (a two-run home run by Carl Yastrzemski) in eight innings, but Luis Tiant shut out the Tigers, and Fidrych received his first major league loss.

On May 31, Fidrych pitched an 11-inning, complete-game victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

On June 5, he pitched another 11-inning, complete-game victory over the Texas Rangers in Arlington.

Fidrych continued to pitch well heading into the All-Star break:

Known for his quirky antics on the mound, Fidrych led the major leagues with a 2.34 ERA in 1976, won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year award, and finished with a 19–9 record.

Shortly thereafter, however, injuries derailed his career, which ended after just five seasons in the major leagues.

The son of an assistant school principal, Fidrych played baseball at Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, Massachusetts, and at Worcester Academy, a day and boarding school in central Massachusetts.

Fidrych joined the Tigers spring training camp in 1976 and made the roster, though he did not make his Major League debut until April 20, pitching only one inning through mid-May.

Fidrych was named to the 1976 AL All-Star team; the game was played on July 13 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

In his last start of the 1976 season, Fidrych picked up his 19th win, defeating the Brewers, 4–1, giving up five hits.

A month later, Fidrych was announced as the runner-up for the Cy Young Award, with Jim Palmer taking the award.

Fidrych won the AL Rookie of the Year Award and was named Tiger of the Year by the Detroit baseball writers.

He led all of MLB in ERA (2.34) and Adjusted ERA+ (158), while leading the AL in complete games (24).

The Tigers edged the Rangers, 4–3, on August 11 as Fidrych notched his 13th win over Gaylord Perry.

Six days later, the Tigers drew a season-high 51,822 fans as Fidrych went to 14–4, beating opposing pitcher Frank Tanana 3–2.

On August 25, the Tigers downed the White Sox, 3–1, in front of 40,000 fans on a Wednesday night in Detroit.

Fidrych held the White Sox to five hits in a game which lasted only 108 minutes.

Between August 29 and September 17, Fidrych lost three consecutive decisions, bringing his record to 16–9.

Fidrych beat the Indians two starts in a row, on September 21 and 28.