50 Years Ago Today I started to love baseball

[Motor City Sonics]

By May 15, 1976 I was a pretty passive baseball fan.  I was 11 years old   I went to a few games with my dad.  I collected baseball cards, but I really wasn't that into it. 

On that cloudy, cool Saturday my dad took me to a hardware store.  Not a chain store, a really small and crowded store on Van Dyke south of 14 Mile Road.   

My dad was one of those guys that would want to talk shop with the hardware guy.  Pretty boring for me.   But while he was doing that, I stayed at the front of the store, where they had a little black and white TV.   The Tiger game was on.   There was this kid I'd never heard of pitching.   Skinny and tall.  All arms and legs and he was just kind of goofy-looking.   Circling the mound after every out,  getting down on his knee to pat down the mound.   The catcher would throw the ball back to him and the next pitch would come right back.   No pitch clock needed with this kid.   One little, Two little, Nine little Indians made one out after another.   I think my dad finally got done with the hardware guy and we left in the 5th inning.   We lived 3 miles away.  He made one quick stop at the store.  I got home and turned on the TV and there was only two outs to go.  The game was already over and that goofy kid was still pitching. 

Six weeks later the rest of the country was introduced to Mark Fidrych on Monday Night Baseball.    In just six weeks the Tigers were selling out games he started and after that Monday night game - FIdrych was selling out road games too.   He didn't even really know who Babe Ruth was.  He was an instant Superstar,  but he was genuine.  It was innocence.  It was real.  

He is the reason I fell in love with baseball.    That Summer was wild.  We had 3 All Stars (Fidrych, ,Ron LeFlore, Rusty Staub).   The Bird started the game in Philly.  I'll never forget the stats  19-9, 2.34.    We thought it would last forever but it was over in less than 4 years.    But I will never forget that Saturday - 50 years ago today - that changed my life. 

 

I'll never get tired of watching this clip. 

 

Here's the box score from that game.  Wow  50 years man.  Where the hell did it go? 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET197605150.shtml

[Motor City Sonics]

 

Saw your picture in the paper today and I couldn't believe my eyes
Dead before your time, but so long beyond your prime
Looking nothing like the memory from when I was a kid
Golden hair flowing down, on your knees grooming the pitcher's mound

And it's always 1976
The camera lies and the mirror plays tricks
So many things that the years won't fix
Always 1976
Always 1976

Set against a fading Motor City and Richard Nixon's shame
A rock star had arrived, Fidrych comes alive!
And I know that it's hardly fair to say you won't grow old
But forgive me if I try to keep that faded image in my eyes

And it's always 1976
The camera lies and the mirror plays tricks
So many things that the years won't fix
Always 1976
Always 1976

What does it say for the rest of us
When our heroes die and leave us alone?
What does it say for the rest of us
When we wake up and find this bird has flown?

And it's always 1976
The camera lies and the mirror plays tricks
So many things that the years won't fix
It's always 1976
Always 1976

Always 1976
Always 1976
Always 1976
Always 1976

 

[Motor City Sonics]

I just watched that clip and I my allergies started acting up in my eyes.   Stupid Allergies. 

[romad1]

29 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

By May 15, 1976 I was a pretty passive baseball fan.  I was 11 years old   I went to a few games with my dad.  I collected baseball cards, but I really wasn't that into it. 

On that cloudy, cool Saturday my dad took me to a hardware store.  Not a chain store, a really small and crowded store on Van Dyke south of 14 Mile Road.   

My dad was one of those guys that would want to talk shop with the hardware guy.  Pretty boring for me.   But while he was doing that, I stayed at the front of the store, where they had a little black and white TV.   The Tiger game was on.   There was this kid I'd never heard of pitching.   Skinny and tall.  All arms and legs and he was just kind of goofy-looking.   Circling the mound after every out,  getting down on his knee to pat down the mound.   The catcher would throw the ball back to him and the next pitch would come right back.   No pitch clock needed with this kid.   One little, Two little, Nine little Indians made one out after another.   I think my dad finally got done with the hardware guy and we left in the 5th inning.   We lived 3 miles away.  He made one quick stop at the store.  I got home and turned on the TV and there was only two outs to go.  The game was already over and that goofy kid was still pitching. 

Six weeks later the rest of the country was introduced to Mark Fidrych on Monday Night Baseball.    In just six weeks the Tigers were selling out games he started and after that Monday night game - FIdrych was selling out road games too.   He didn't even really know who Babe Ruth was.  He was an instant Superstar,  but he was genuine.  It was innocence.  It was real.  

He is the reason I fell in love with baseball.    That Summer was wild.  We had 3 All Stars (Fidrych, ,Ron LeFlore, Rusty Staub).   The Bird started the game in Philly.  I'll never forget the stats  19-9, 2.34.    We thought it would last forever but it was over in less than 4 years.    But I will never forget that Saturday - 50 years ago today - that changed my life. 

 

I'll never get tired of watching this clip. 

 

Here's the box score from that game.  Wow  50 years man.  Where the hell did it go? 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET197605150.shtml

My first memory as a human on this Earth was how upset I was when i couldn't go to a 1972 Tiger playoff game that my brothers were going to. 

I came to love them about 1977.  You never know when love begins.  For me there was a strong need to escape into the game and away from the chaos of my home situation.  I raged at those teams for losing and exulted in their wins.  

[Motor City Sonics]

2 hours ago, romad1 said:

My first memory as a human on this Earth was how upset I was when i couldn't go to a 1972 Tiger playoff game that my brothers were going to. 

I came to love them about 1977.  You never know when love begins.  For me there was a strong need to escape into the game and away from the chaos of my home situation.  I raged at those teams for losing and exulted in their wins.  

That pedestrian bridge over 75 - there was a building on the other side of it.  It was called Superior Color - a printing company and my dad worked there.    During Summer Vacation from school, when the Tigers had a day game,   he'd come home for lunch, pick up me and my friends and go back to his job and give us a $20 and we'd go to the game.  The game would usually let out about the time he was done with his work day and he'd be waiting for us to drive us home.   His company printed the gameday programs and would just drop them off.   The ushers at that gate knew my dad, so if one of them recognized me, he'd just let me and my friends in the game for free.     Even when we did buy the bleacher tickets - with the tickets, the hot dogs, peanuts and soda - for 3 of us - we'd have change for my dad.  

They also used to print some of the yearbooks.   During the winter, when I was sick with pneumonia and missing 2 weeks of school, he came home with the 1977 year book (before it was published) and he hands me the yearbook with a roll of postage stamps and a stack of envelopes and he told me the addresses for every team are in the back of the yearbook and I should write a letter to each team asking for a pocket schedule.   He knew I needed something to do while I was sick.   Most of the teams sent stuff back.  I would say all but 3 or 4 teams.   The Mets sent a huge enevelope stuffed with schedules, stickers, special baseball cards, refridgerator magnets - so I really liked the Mets after that.  (Plus I liked the orange and blue uniforms). 

[Sports_Freak]

3 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

By May 15, 1976 I was a pretty passive baseball fan.  I was 11 years old   I went to a few games with my dad.  I collected baseball cards, but I really wasn't that into it. 

On that cloudy, cool Saturday my dad took me to a hardware store.  Not a chain store, a really small and crowded store on Van Dyke south of 14 Mile Road.   

My dad was one of those guys that would want to talk shop with the hardware guy.  Pretty boring for me.   But while he was doing that, I stayed at the front of the store, where they had a little black and white TV.   The Tiger game was on.   There was this kid I'd never heard of pitching.   Skinny and tall.  All arms and legs and he was just kind of goofy-looking.   Circling the mound after every out,  getting down on his knee to pat down the mound.   The catcher would throw the ball back to him and the next pitch would come right back.   No pitch clock needed with this kid.   One little, Two little, Nine little Indians made one out after another.   I think my dad finally got done with the hardware guy and we left in the 5th inning.   We lived 3 miles away.  He made one quick stop at the store.  I got home and turned on the TV and there was only two outs to go.  The game was already over and that goofy kid was still pitching. 

Six weeks later the rest of the country was introduced to Mark Fidrych on Monday Night Baseball.    In just six weeks the Tigers were selling out games he started and after that Monday night game - FIdrych was selling out road games too.   He didn't even really know who Babe Ruth was.  He was an instant Superstar,  but he was genuine.  It was innocence.  It was real.  

He is the reason I fell in love with baseball.    That Summer was wild.  We had 3 All Stars (Fidrych, ,Ron LeFlore, Rusty Staub).   The Bird started the game in Philly.  I'll never forget the stats  19-9, 2.34.    We thought it would last forever but it was over in less than 4 years.    But I will never forget that Saturday - 50 years ago today - that changed my life. 

 

I'll never get tired of watching this clip. 

 

Here's the box score from that game.  Wow  50 years man.  Where the hell did it go? 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET197605150.shtml

Thanks for this. Cool story and I will never get tired of seeing that clip of Fidrych's curtain call. Totally amazing...he took baseball by storm.

[Motor City Sonics]

My dad's work building (back in the day)