I have the original ABC broadcast of Fidrych's Monday Night Baseball debut against the Yankees. I watch it at least once a year and am always amazed about how electric the Tiger Stadium was that night. The Bird definitely holds a special place in baseball history...it's a shame to lose him so soon.

The original Napoleon Dynamite.

What is so amazing about his '76 performance was that he won 19 games while striking out a mere 3.5 batters per 9 innings.

Bird got a ton of ground balls, that's how he did it.

Great video segment there, Alex. Nice find. Fidrych had a great attitude toward life, which makes the fact that it came to an early end all the more tragic.

[3] Sounds like Chien-Ming Wang, circa 2007. And then the league caught up to them ...

MLB Network had done an interview with him recently

http://tinyurl.com/d6878b

If you look real quickly, he looks a bit like a much-older Dan Marino.

Saddened to hear fo the Bird's passing. A unique personality who had fun playing the game. Too bad he had such a short career and life.