Baseball Bummer

A lot of attention has quite rightly been focused on Harry Kalas, whose death will make Philadelphia baseball a bit poorer, just as his longtime sidekick Richie Ashburns's death did years back. But I grew up in New York and I guess I'm not affected the same as people who grew up with him (though I clearly remember his NFL Films work). So I want to spend a moment remembering Mark Fydrich, who died in some sort of truck accident at the age of 54 today.

Fydrich, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, was known as The Bird because he resembled Big Bird on Sesame Street. He was a tall, gangly guy who was, let's just say, extremely animated on the mound. He was most famous for talking to the baseball- nothing weird, just telling it where to go- and getting down on his hands and knees to groom the area around the pitching rubber. Just Google him and you'll see pictures. He was Rookie of the Year 1976 and he was beloved. He was just a friendly, uninhibited farm boy with curly hair and a great smile, and he was a terrific pitcher. Then he hurt his knee jumping over a fence, then hurt his arm and was never the same again.

I saw him pitch once in Yankee Stadium in 1979 when he was attempting a comeback. He was pitching against Ron Guidry, who was the best pitcher in baseball at that particular moment. I sat front row in the center field bleachers with binoculars so I could watch every pitch. Fydrich was as much fun as advertised, but he got hit hard and only lasted a few innings. Guidry struck out 17, tying the single game record for a lefthanded pitcher that I had, strangely enough, seen set in Anaheim 5 years earlier. It was exciting for everyone, but even the Yankee fans were sad that Fydrich hadn't done better. He was that popular and he was certainly one of a kind.