A doubly sad day in baseball as Mark Fidrych also dies.
Former All-Star pitcher Mark Fidrych, whose incredible rookie season with the 1976 Tigers made him a national sensation, passed away Monday in an apparent accident on his Massachusetts farm at age 54.
Worcester County district attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. told the Associated Press that a family friend found Fidrych at about 2:30 p.m. ET under a dump truck that he appeared to have been working on. He was on the same farm he bought more than 30 years ago in his hometown of Northborough, Mass.
It was an abrupt and tragic end for someone who had suddenly endeared himself to Detroit and the rest of the baseball world seemingly out of nowhere, and remained memorable even after his greatness proved fleeting.
“The entire Detroit Tigers organization was saddened to learn of the passing of former player Mark Fidrych today,” the team said in a statement Monday evening. “Mark was beloved by Tigers fans, and he was a special person with a unique personality. The Tigers send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”
That 1976 season was magic. The Bird was a character, posted a great ERA. Looking back now, however, he might have been a bit lucky. He only struck out 3.5 batters per nine innings, so he must have received a lot of help from the Tigers defense. Injuries destroyed the rest of his career, as 250 innings was probably too much for a 21 year old.
He was fun to watch. His career and life were way too short. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Striking out 3.5 batters per 9 innings pitched, even for that time in history, did not bode particularly well for the rest of his career. But that season he also walked fewer than 2 batters per nine innings, and gave up I think 12 homers in 250 innings, less than 0.5 per 9ip. So even if he had some good defensive support (or favorable chance results on some balls in play), it would not seem to be luck that was the key driver behind his strong results that year . . . limiting walks and homers to extreme lows is a pretty good recipe for success.
I agree with the comment above that it wasn’t luck. I was only 15 at the time, but as I remember watching the games that were on TV back then, it was sinking fastball after sinking fastball, always at the knees, always on the corners, and always right where the catcher had his glove. The Tigers were a bad team when he wasn’t pitching. Just going by memory, I’m not thinking they were a great defensive team – remember that the next year they handed the starting shortstop/second base jobs to a pair of 21 year old rookies, so that tells you they weren’t stellar up the middle.
But the coolest thing about him was how much fun he had playing the game. Most of all, that even though he never really cashed in and got big money and washed out with injuries, probably because the pitched him every chance they got to maximize ticket sales, he was never bitter about it. I heard a quote once, “I was pumping gas when they found me, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I ended up pumping gas again”. What a guy.