I was 11 in 1976. I still remember that magical Bicentennial summer very well. It was a festive atmosphere from Memorial to Labor Day. In the Detroit area, some of that may have been due to Mark Fidrych and his most incredible year pitching for the Tigers.
When Washington finally stepped in after successfully ruffling The Bird’s feathers, the first pitch he saw was a brushback pitch. He took exception to that and headed for the mound, bat in hand. He didn’t get very far before Kimm and the home plate umpire restrained him. Both benches cleared, but there was no brawl. Thankfully, that also meant that something even worse wouldn’t happen. The players weren’t the only ones feeling the friction. In the Fidrych biography The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych, Tigers pitcher Frank MacCormack told author Doug Wilson,
"“It’s a good thing Washington stopped. I could see fans putting their legs over the rail, getting ready to go out there to rescue The Bird. They were ready to run out there. They were not going to let The Bird get hurt. It would have gotten ugly if Washington had gotten any closer. But that’s how Detroit fans felt about him.”"
Fidrych pitched an 11 inning, 1-0 complete game victory that night. After the game the manager Ralph Houk said he would have let Fidrych go 2 more innings. For the season Fidrych pitched extra innings 4 times and led the league with 22 complete games in his 19-9 rookie year. He should have won the Cy Young along with his ROTY because the Tigers were a putrid baseball team that year. He came in second to Jim Palmer.
Sorry for the tangent ;)
I was 11 in 1976. I still remember that magical Bicentennial summer very well. It was a festive atmosphere from Memorial to Labor Day. In the Detroit area, some of that may have been due to Mark Fidrych and his most incredible year pitching for the Tigers.
When Washington finally stepped in after successfully ruffling The Bird’s feathers, the first pitch he saw was a brushback pitch. He took exception to that and headed for the mound, bat in hand. He didn’t get very far before Kimm and the home plate umpire restrained him. Both benches cleared, but there was no brawl. Thankfully, that also meant that something even worse wouldn’t happen. The players weren’t the only ones feeling the friction. In the Fidrych biography The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych, Tigers pitcher Frank MacCormack told author Doug Wilson,
"“It’s a good thing Washington stopped. I could see fans putting their legs over the rail, getting ready to go out there to rescue The Bird. They were ready to run out there. They were not going to let The Bird get hurt. It would have gotten ugly if Washington had gotten any closer. But that’s how Detroit fans felt about him.”"
Fidrych pitched an 11 inning, 1-0 complete game victory that night. After the game the manager Ralph Houk said he would have let Fidrych go 2 more innings. For the season Fidrych pitched extra innings 4 times and led the league with 22 complete games in his 19-9 rookie year.
Sorry for the tangent ;)