Rookie of the Year: Mark Fidrych, 1976

Pitcher, Detroit Tigers

Age:  22 (Aug. 14)

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’3”    Weight: 175

Prior to & including 1976:

A native of Massachusetts, Fidrych played basketball and football in addition to baseball at Algonquin High School in Northborough. Not an exceptional high school pitcher, he still drew the attention of major league scouts with his fastball and was chosen by the Tigers in the 10^th round of the 1974 amateur draft. Tall and lanky with a head of blonde, curly hair, he was given the nickname “The Bird”, due to his perceived resemblance to the character Big Bird from Sesame Street while at his first minor league stop with Bristol of the Rookie-level Appalachian League where he was utilized as a reliever and went 3-0 with 7 saves and a 2.38 ERA. After a stint playing winter ball in the Florida Instructional League, Fidrych started the 1975 season with Lakeland of the Class A Florida State League where he started 16 games and produced a 5-9 record with a 3.77 ERA. At midseason he moved on to the Montgomery Rebels of the Class AA Southern League for a short stint as a reliever in which he appeared in seven games and was 2-0 with 4 saves. From there it was on to the Evansville Triplets of the Class AAA American Association where he worked on developing a change-up to complement his fastball and improved his control. He performed well in Class AAA as he started six games and produced a 4-1 record with a 1.58 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched. After another winter in the Florida Instructional League, Fidrych was promoted to the Tigers and began the 1976 season in the bullpen before being given the opportunity to start after just two relief appearances. By this point he had developed into a control pitcher with a good fastball and slider. In addition to his pitching success, Fidrych became popular with Detroit fans not only for his pitching success but also due to his odd rituals that included talking to the ball, gesturing toward home plate, patting the dirt on the pitcher’s mound with his hand, strutting in a circle and applauding his teammates following each out as well. He regularly received curtain calls after winning games at home, where he proved to be a boon for attendance. The fast-working pitcher indicated that the antics helped his concentration.

1976 Season Summary

Appeared in 31 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 31

Games Started – 29

Complete Games – 24 [1]

Wins – 19 [4, tied with Frank Tanana & Ed Figueroa]

Losses – 9

PCT - .679 [4]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 4 [5, tied with seven others]

Innings Pitched – 250.1 [13, tied with Gaylord Perry]

Hits – 217

Runs – 76

Earned Runs – 65

Home Runs – 12

Bases on Balls – 53

Strikeouts – 97

ERA – 2.34 [1]

Hit Batters – 3

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 6 [18, tied with sixteen others]

League-leading complete games were +1 ahead of runners-up Jim Palmer & Frank Tanana

League-leading ERA was -0.01 lower than runner-up Vida Blue

Midseason Snapshot: 9-2, ERA - 1.78, SO - 43 in 101.1 IP

---

Most strikeouts, game – 8 (in 11 IP) vs. Milwaukee 5/31, (in 11 IP) at Texas 6/5, (in 9 IP) vs. Baltimore 7/29

10+ strikeout games – 0

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 9 IP) vs. Cleveland 5/15

Fielding

Chances – 78

Put Outs – 19

Assists – 59

Errors – 0

DP – 4

Pct. - 1.000

Awards & Honors:

AL Rookie of the Year: BBWAA

All-Star (starting P for AL)

11^th in AL MVP voting (41 points, 1 first place vote, 12% share)

2^nd in AL Cy Young voting (51 points, 5 first place votes, 43%share)

AL ROY Voting:

Mark Fidrych, Det.: 22 of 24 votes, 92% share

Butch Wynegar, Min.: 2 votes, 8% share

Tigers went 74-87 to finish fifth in the AL Eastern Division, 24 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees. They drew 605,677 fans in Fidrych’s home starts.

Aftermath of ‘76:

In the wake of his remarkable rookie season, Fidrych accepted a retroactive raise from the Tigers that increased his $19,000 salary (the major league minimum) to $30,000 and further received a three-year contract extension. During 1977 spring training he injured his knee while working out in the outfield but started out well as the season commenced, with six straight wins following losses in his first two decisions. Named an All-Star once again he felt arm pain and was shut down with a 6-4 record and 2.89 ERA in 81 innings pitched. Problems with recurring tightness in his arm limited Fidrych to three games in 1978, four in ’79, and 9 in 1980 when he was demoted to Class AAA Evansville. After spending most of the next three years with minor league teams (he was released by the Tigers after the 1981 season and signed with the Red Sox) with unimpressive results, Fidrych retired in 1983 at age 28. Later diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff that was surgically repaired, his initially promising pitching career was over. Overall for his short major league career with the Tigers he compiled a 29-19 record with a 3.10 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 412.1 innings pitched. He started 56 games and completed 34 of them with 5 shutouts. Following his retirement from baseball Fidrych tragically died in 2009 at age 54 in an accident while working under a truck on his farm.  

--

Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major league.