REMEMBERING MARK FIDRYCH

Powerline ^ | 21 Mar 2020 | Paul Mirengoff

[Rummyfan]

The Bird had one magical season. Sadly, sometimes that's all you get.

[kenmcg]

The kid was good for baseball. Unfortunately he passed at a young age.

[Larry Lucido]

Ping.

[PGalt]

Horrible death as I recall. Clothing got caught up in the driveshaft as it was turning. I saw several of Mark’s performances. Good pitcher. Entertainer. I even liked Jimmy Piersall’s antics in centerfield for Cleveland. Fun times. Whoa Steve Dahl’s Disco Demolition night in Chicago between doubleheader games.

[be-baw]

Big Tiger fan here. It was, indeed, a magical season.

Everyone wanted to meet him...President Ford, Frank Sinatra, yet he always seemed the same genuine enthusiastic young man with everyone.

Loved the quote about the Sunoco station.

[KevinB]

He died while working underneath a running dump truck when his sweatshirt got caught up in the moving drive shaft and strangled him. Not a good way to go.

[dfwgator]

As a lifelong Tigers fan, there was nothing like the phenomenon of Fidrych in 1976.

[PGalt]

Yep thanks very much for the ping, Larry.

[gibsonguy]

The guy was a blast. I saw him pitch once. He would groom the mound between pitches. Hilarious.

[PGalt]

Great post and great times in the Motor City BUMP!

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUi5xKQXG6I

[Rummyfan]

I had no idea.... Horrible.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Fun, but not better than any game McClain pitched in 1968.
31 - 6
It will never again be equaled or approached.

[dfwgator]

Or the 35-5 start in 1984.

[llevrok]

Back when the Boys of Summer were still Innocent.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

The sports media would play that song when doing reports on him.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Game 5
Padres
1984
The [SIGH] heard around the world.

[DouglasKC]

I was in the zenith of my youth and love of baseball in West Michigan when Mark Fidyrych burst on the scene. As a lifelong Tiger fan it was an exciting time.

[neverevergiveup]

To me, he embodied all that is good about baseball. Just thinking about him, and that season, brings back the smell of hotdogs, the wind on my face as I rode my bike to the diamond for practice, and then, as a kid, having one of the McCuddy women call me honey while she was making me a roast beef sandwich at McCuddy’s across from the old Comiskey Park. Babe Ruth used to walk across the street from Comiskey to McCuddy’s to buy a roast beef sandwich in between games of double headers when the Yankees were in town. I wouldn't trade those memories for all of Bloomberg’s money. That was real life, and I am sure Babe Ruth would have loved Fidrych.

[Atticus]

His career and his life were way too short. It is amazing that he endeared so many fans with his idiosyncrasies. I caught most of the show and it was very good.