The Need to Say More.

Yesterday I commented on the death of Mark 'the Bird' Fidrych. I did not say nearly enough. My son mentioned to me about how, when he heard the news, it 'put a pallor on the twilight.' Understandably so, Chuck. The Bird was classic baseball Americana: he had fun playing a kid's game (as one should), and was totally sincere. He made the whole 1976 season special. I remember seeing him live on several occasions: old Tiger Stadium rocked every time. The curtain calls after each game, win or lose, were great. I wish you could have seen him pitch, son. It's cliched, but there will indeed never be another like him.

Do you remember the last game at Tiger Stadium, Chuck? How the Bird was the first old Tiger introduced, and he ran to the mound and got down on his hands and knees and groomed it, just as he would when he played? Vintage Fidrych. It was a classy move by the Tigers to bring him out first. I was glad we could be there. I miss him.

A young friend of mine, Samantha Beneteau, herself too young to have actually seen the Bird play, asked me if he really talked to the ball. Fidrych says no - that he was reminding himself what to do according to the situation in the game. But I think he talked to it. He would not pitch with a ball which a batter had gotten a hit with. He shook hands with the fielders after a great play. He would not step on the foul lines. He paced in animation around the mound after each out, righting himself for the next hitter. He did a lot of goofy, endearing things like that.

But more than that: he stayed unassuming and upbeat even after the baseball gods took away his ability to pitch. He simply went back to his old life, buying a farm to work and a truck to drive and working in his mother-in-law's diner when she needed help. Despite his antics, he was a man who had his head on straight.

He was cool, Sam. Sadly, now he is another part of that youthful innocence we all look back upon wistfully. I do not think it overblown to call it innocence itself, personified in one great, down to earth individual. He was what baseball should be about.