The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych - Biography of Baseball Legend by Doug Wilson | Perfect Gift for Sports Fans & Baseball Enthusiasts

This is a wonderfully touching book about a man that I remember watching on Monday night baseball and at the All Star Game of 1976. I wondered then if this guy was for real or just a hot dog who was putting on a show to build on his own career. The writing vividly brings back those nostalgic days of baseball innocence during a period of transition from the reserve clause to free agency. I have this image of a novel I read by Mike Reuther about a similar type of kid. It's called Nothing Down and the protagonist is Homer Newbody. I now believe Reuther had to have had Mark Fidrych in mind when he wrote his novel. "Fid" was by all accounts a young man who would have played the game for nothing, because he loved playing it so much. I had to scratch my head when I read that his original contract(later revised after the season) was for $16,500 a season. I made more than that as a government worker in 1976 and that was only my second year of work. He in fact told reporters he didn't want a raise because he loved his job and didn't want to worry about "having athousand problems"(dollars) Wilson makes clear that Fid was the genuine deal. he had been "talking to his ball" and manicuring the pitching mound as a high school kid-well before the majors. And from all accounts, teammates, opposing players, friends, neighbors, strangers, The Bird was a loveable, kind, charitable, and genuinely good person with no pretense whatsoever. He was hard working, enthusiastic, humble, polite, and generous with his time and deeds. And this was when he was the biggest thing since Babe Ruth when he broke in the majors in 1976. He was the image of a young man that all of us longed for, especially after players like Reggie Jackson and others changed the game into a "me first" business. There are numerous cute and funny instances throughout the book of his naivete, enthusiasm, and his popularity with every day fans. I particularly liked the "Thurmon Munson who" story, and the elementary school child who, when told as homework to name three birds, named two indigenous Michigan birds and The Bird as the third. What impressed me is that opponents didn't get jealous or mad at him; they knew he was for real. For fellow teammates to say that a particular moment with Mark was their best moment of their career says a lot about the man. The charity work that he did especially for children causes was remarkable.( I especially was impressed that the author spoke with Rosemary Lonborg, a lovely woman that I had the pleasure to meet in Vermont in 1983.) I would have liked a bit more detail about his cause of death and the funeral, but I have no complaints. I loved the book, its main "character" and the story of innocence reflected by the Fid.