Mark the "BIRD" Fydrich Died.

[bassinman#1]

I heard today that the Bird got killed today, they found him underneath his truck. He was a good pitcher.

[dashaver63]

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090413&content_id=4252328&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det

Man, that is terrible news. He is still a fan favorite after 23 years. Just Saturday, I think, I was watching him on the MLBTV Network when he pitched a complete game win against the Yankees in 1976. He will be missed.

[motocross269]

That is sad to hear....

I remember going to watch the Bird with my little league team in the late 70s...That was a great time for the tigers, he brought alot to a mediocre team in those days......

[djkimmel]

What year was the championship? That was really my last real year as a Tiger fan...

[fiker]

I used to have a Wilson Mark Fidrych baseball glove.

[Fishmael]

I believe the championship was in '84.  Back when Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammel and Chet Lemon were all in the lineup!  It is amazing how time can just slip away...

[dashaver63]

1984 was awesome. 35-5, Morris no-hits the White Sox, Gibson's home run off Gossage in the Series. Awesome! To get back to The Bird, The official cause of death was accidental suffocation. There have been a lot of good memmories brought up about him on Detroittigers.com. He was truly an icon in Detroit sports history. Some things I had forgotten, He lead the A.L. in 1976 with 2.34 ERA. Had 24 complete games. I still believe Ralph Houck wrecked his arm by working him so many innings that year, he wracked up over 250 innings as a rookie. Here's a couple trivia questions for you:
1.) Who was his personal catcher?
2.) Who was the starting National Pitcher in the 1976 All-Star Game?

[djkimmel]

I used to know the answers to those questions

Didn't the pitcher has a big mustache?

[dashaver63]

Randy Jones of the Padres was the National league pitcher that year, I don't remember if he had a mustache or not. Bruce Kimm was his "personal" catcher that year, Bill Freehan was the regular.

[djkimmel]

I was always Mickey Stanley in our grass lot baseball games though I did not like to choke up on the bat very much.

[dashaver63]

Thats funny, I was always Norm Cash and learned to hit lefthanded. It's fun to remember those days, isn't it.

[fiker]

It wasn't pitching too much that ruined his arm. 

At least that's not the urban legend.

[dashaver63]

What actually happened to him was that he was being his goofy self. During spring training in '77, he tried to jump a fence and tore a tendon in his knee. I don't recall if he had the surgery, but hes was out untill June that year. He altered his delivery because of his knee and that's where some of the credit goes. But, in his rookie season, at least 2 or maybe 3 of his complete games were extra inning games. I know 2 of them for sure went 11 innings, I think it was a combination of the 2.

[djkimmel]

I can't remember that far back too much... I just remember I was jealous of my friend who always got to be Al Kaline... (Norm Cash was supposed to be the bad boy)

[dashaver63]

One of Norm Cash's most famous quote's was when the Tigers were being no-hit by Nolan Ryan, he went to the plate with a table leg, when he was asked why, he said he couldn't hit him with a bat so I'll try this. True story.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197307150DET

Another funny quote I just read about "Stormin' " Norman Cash,
"Pro-rated at 500 at-bats per year, my 1,081 strike-outs would mean that for 2 years out of the 14 I played, I never touched the ball."