Mark "The Bird" Fidrych Documentary
The Detroit News has a nice article on an upcoming documentary about Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.
LINK: Harbaugh steals show in Fidrych documentary
I'll never forget that summer. I was in high school in the Detroit area. Fidrych actually came to an interview with high school students, and I was a photographer for our student paper, taking his picture, talking to him, next to him. Not an uber cool, unapproachable guy (maybe the times were different). Anyway, he was a simple, down to earth, happy go lucky, approachable guy. I can see how John and Jim Harbaugh loved him too. I don't have cable or get the MLB network, but I think this is one special I'd like to see.
The producer of the movie, Bruce Cornblatt, loved the project, and loved the interviews with Jim and John. About Jim, the article says,
Jim Harbaugh, in the documentary, called Fidrych his favorite player growing up, and had a touching story about the time he was at Tiger Stadium as a fan and Fidrych came over and said hi. Jim Harbaugh the young boy was speechless. The day after that Monday night game, Jim Harbaugh said he was pitching in Little League — and mimicking all of Fidrych's mound antics.
Can't exactly say why, but my eyes teared up just a bit thinking back to that summer. Where does time go?
It's amazing to me how little time he wasted between pitches. I have trouble watching baseball anymore because there is so much down time, but he was throwing a pitch every 12-15 seconds.
...in order to get back to his shagadelic off-field life as quickly as possible.
Bird had incredible control and late movement on his ball. He was not overpoweringly fast, just very deceptive.
I was very young when he was with the Tigers, but a few years later when I started pitching I emulated his crazy mound movements and talked to the ball. A lot of kids did that....
I was just thinking about this the other day. In the Early 80s, the Tigers had a promotion called the "Pepsi Tigers Fan Club" where kids could pay something like $25 and get tickets to 10 games in the LF seats, a cheap batting helmet or hat and other goodies. It was a sweet deal like sweet Lou Whittaker. We went to a ton of games back then due to that special, and we would always bring our gloves for BP.
Anyone else here a member of the Pepsi Tigers Fan Club?
You won't belive this, but I and my dad and grandad, along with my whole T-ball team were at that game. It was a team outing planned well in advance. So we got lucky that the Bird was pitching! It was a carnival atmosphere and looking back I don't know how my dad and the other coaches survived trying to keep track of all those kids. What a great memory of childhood, Tiger stadium,friends and family. I smile everytime I think of it.
Watching the Bird talk and groom the mound was priceless.
Went to a Mets game a couple of years ago. Rode the subway with a guy wearing a Fidrych jersey. We wound up spending the whole afternoon telling our kids about 1976, 1984, 1968. Good stuff.
Also, my cool and pointless story: Friends and I had a fantasy league of sorts using Earl Weaver Baseball on my Amiga circa 1991. It was the best fantasy league I've ever been in. We didn't have no stinkin' internet so we used the Baseball Encyclopedia for stats. You could draft any player, any single year, only two players before 1900 per roster. I took the Bird on my team. We won the whole thing, with Fidrych pitching and winning game 3 of the Series. /csb
Love the Bird.
I met Mark Fidrych in a bar one time, on a quiet night. He seemed like a regular, unpretentious person.
about things that should not make you cry but do. I joined in with the rest of America on that Monday night, a number of years ago now when he mowed the Yankees down 5-1 and, in his own way, united the nation. I know I was not the only one whose eyes were not dry that night. Talk about someone coming along when you need them. The entire country fell in love with the young man.
I was a bouncer at Dooley's, and Fidrych came in at least a half dozen times. He liked to be seated at the table under the staircase, because he it was out of sight from most of the bar.
A very nice, simple guy. Kind of amazed at The Bird phenomenon.
seen again. I was only three years removed from the Army myself, two and one-half from Vietnam. I waited a couple years to adjust before I enrolled in school. Did a year at the local JUCO before I enrolled at Grand Valley which was not too old itself.
The JUCO status together with a full time job at the youth home - Boy's Supervisor and the G.I. Bill gave me clout and confidence. I was often mistaken for a wealthy student. Owned a '68 Mustang that was absolutely "Cherry" was the word we used then, had done my part to get the drinking age lowered and was living large. Wealth can easily be mistaken for a young man with a pocketful of cash. First and only time in my life I had more money than the majority of the students.
The women were plentiful, found a beautiful log house for rent on one of the many lakes in the area; fireplace and hanging windows throughout the L shaped dining room, giving a full view to the lake. And, as you said, there was the Bird. Gave everyone hope. Just a young man pumping gas a year earlier to one of the top pitchers in the game and to do so in the most unpretentious manner possible. It was impossible for him to hide his joy when he was on the mound. For some reason made me and my friends believe that was what the old time ball players were like. Not nearly as eccentric, of course, but playing ball maily for the fun of it. He as getting paid a ton, no doubt, but he just gave the impression he would have done it for free.
GOOD TIMES.