Yesterday, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, former Tigers "wonder" pitcher, was found dead under one of his dump trucks (he owned a trucking company).
The Bird was a marvel in the '76 season. He was quirky, sprinting to the mound and arranging the dirt on it just so. He talked to the mound, to the ball, and to himself. And he pitched GREAT.
After injuries during spring training for the 1977 season that he never fully recovered from (bad knee and torn rotator cuff), Mark quietly faded away from the limelight. But he left quite a mark on the Tigers, Tigers fans, and baseball in general. He was an "odd bird," but he was something so out of the ordinary that he caught the fans' imaginations and got us watching baseball again, at a time when baseball was getting pretty dull.
We'll miss you Mark...
) from a detroit perspective that is. 
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