Mark Fidrych Stats, Height, Weight, Research & History | Baseball Almanac (2024)

Mark Fidrych Biography (Excerpt):

Despite his performance, Fidrych was not yet made a regular starter for the Tigers. Ten days after defeating Cleveland, Fidrych next started against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Despite pitching another complete game, Fidrych and the Tigers lost to the Red Sox 2-0 on a two-run home run by Carl Yastrzemski. But, based on his strong performance, Fidrych became a regular starter for the Tigers, and won his next eight starts.

Soon after he became a regular starter, sportswriters covering the Tigers began to write about Fidrych's antics on the playing field. A June 5 article in The Sporting News described Fidrych on the mound: "He talks to the ball. ... He talks to himself. ... He gestures toward the plate, pointing out the path he wants the pitch to take. ... He struts in a circle around the mound after each out, applauding his teammates and asking for the ball. .... And he's forever chewing gum and patting the dirt on the mound with his bare hand." In the same article, Fidrych said, "I really don’t know what I do out there. That's just my way of concentrating and keeping my head in the game."

The game that firmly established the legend of Mark Fidrych was that June 28 against the Yankees. The national media had picked up on both Fidrych's success -- he was now 7-1 -- and his antics on the field. In turn, baseball fans and the American public were now taking notice of the Bird. The game, pitting Fidrych against the first-place Yankees, was televised nationally on ABC's "Monday Night Baseball" telecast and received a great deal of attention. Fans came in droves to attend the game at Tiger Stadium; 47,855 people attended the game, and it was reported that another 10,000 were turned away more than an hour before the game was scheduled to start. Fidrych shut down the Yankees, allowing seven hits, no walks, and just a solo homer by Elrod Hendricks as the Tigers won 5-1. Chants of "Go Bird Go!" echoed through the crowd throughout the game. The Yankees, however, were unimpressed with Fidrych and his non-pitching actions on the field. In particular, Thurman Munson, who did not play in the game due to a bruised knee, was angry and felt that Fidrych was showing up the Yankees. He was quoted as saying, "Tell that guy if he pulls that stuff in New York, we'll blow his f*cking ass out of town." Willie Randolph, who admitted that he was distracted during his first at-bat against Fidrych, simply said, "You want to send a line drive right through his head."

Tigers fans, however, were ecstatic. After the game ended, Fidrych ran around the infield, shaking the hands of his teammates before going into the dugout and clubhouse to the ovation of the fans. After the game, as a light rain fell on the crowd, the fans did not leave. They chanted "We want the Bird! We want the Bird!" Fidrych finally returned the field, laughing and smiling at the crowd as he tipped his cap to them. Bob Prince, who was announcing the game on ABC, said that in his 35 years in baseball, he had never seen anything like this, and that it gave him goose bumps. Ernie Harwell later wrote that he thought Fidrych to be "the first big-leaguer to take curtain calls on a regular basis."

After the game, Tigers right fielder Rusty Staub said about Fidrych: "It's no act. There’s nothing contrived about him and that's what makes him a beautiful person." Staub continued, "There's an electricity that he brings out in everyone, the players and the fans. He's different. He's a 21-year-old kid with a great enthusiasm that everyone loves. He has an inner youth, an exuberance."

Following the victory against the Yankees, Fidrych was now a huge star. Having amassed a record of 9-2 and an ERA of 1.78, he was named the starter for the American League for the 1976 All-Star Game.

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