One Brief, Shining Moment

Mark Fidrych is dead, and that makes me inconsolably sad. Man, it's been a tough few days for the world of major league baseball.

I always credit the 1978 season with turning me into a hardcore baseball fan, but of course I had discovered the game long before that. A real favorite in those early years was The Bird himself, all arms and legs and that shock of yellow hair. Not so much because of that wonderful rookie year itself-I was really not into performances then-but because of the incredibly entertaining, OCD-inspired mound presence. Manicuring the mound until it was just so. Talking to the ball, imploring it not to allow an opposing batter a hit. Punishing the ball if it let him down.  And then there was that crazy mop of blond ringlets that inspired the nickname and drove teenage girls wild (much the same way Mark Bellhorn's curls would nearly 30 years later). In a travesty of malpractice, an undiagnosed rotator cuff tear ended his career at 29...but the legend lived on. Ask any baseball fan 35-40+ and they know-he's a part of our collective memory. The guy was a talent and a personality-a fun personality, really without a hint of entitlement or arrogance-and that combination has become rare indeed (see: Ramirez, Manny or Schilling, Curt, for examples of, umm, talent with the wrong kind of outsized personality...)   

I followed Fidrych for years afterwards, and would always check out any show or interview I heard about after his retirement. He never seemed bitter or angry about his lost opportunity, and had seemingly made a nice life for himself outside of baseball. Gone too soon. The people of Michigan have had many, many things to grieve over the past year or more, and it seems tremendously unfair for them to have to suffer this as well.

RIP, Mark. You'll be missed.

Comments

[Jim]

I know what you mean about it being a "tough few days for the world of major league baseball."

I've never understood why seemingly quality human beings like a young Nick Adenhart, and a guy like Fidrych, are dealt a tragic hand, when other monsters like Bernie Madoff and George Bush seem to skate, despite visiting harm on large numbers of other humans.

Interestingly, I also put up a post about Fidrych before reading yours, after my son texted me about his death.

I played on a semi-pro team back in 1993 that played a Bill Lee-led barnstorming team of ex-major leaguers. Fidrych was on the team. He was such a great guy, and spent time before, during, and after the game satisfying any autograph requests from a crowd of over 3,000+, at the old Ballpark, in Old Orchard.

I remember the game against the Yankees, when he beat them on national TV and the Fidrych media balloon was hoisted for all the country to see.

There just aren't enough guys like Mark Fidrych out there, anymore.

[Lisa K.]

"There just aren't enough guys like Mark Fidrych out there, anymore."

You got it, Jim, and the ones that are have the heart beat out of them early. It's a hard game these days.