VintageMeld

Well that was a sad title to type.  Just mentioning “the Bird” still gets baseball fans to smile, and that’s some pretty good equity built on a career that really lasted just a little more than one full season before a shoulder injury stole his talent away 32 years ago.  Fidrych hung around after that, but was never the same, disappearing from the majors for good in 1980 at age 25.

A cropped image of the oversized issue of The Sporting News Magazine which Mark "the Bird" Fidrych appeared on the cover of August 14, 1976

I was only four years old during the Bird’s big breakout year in ‘76, so I won’t BS you and say I remember it, but I do remember his struggles at the end and all the little film clips of what once was which accompanied it.  They’re the same clips that are rolling today.

It was a lot of fun a few weeks ago when I turned on the MLB Network and saw the Bird sitting with Harold Reynolds and Matt Vasgersian talking about the old days.  I don’t know if MLB.com keeps these archived permanently or not, but that recent interview should be found here.  And here’s MLB.com’s complete coverage of the passing of Mark Fidrych.

This quite possibly isn’t complete, but here are the few major magazines which come to my mind when thinking of the Bird, plus a few others I spotted on eBay when I was date-checking the ones I was already aware of:

• The Sporting News – August 14, 1976 (pictured)
• New York Times Magazine – August 22, 1976
• Baseball Digest – November 1976
• Argosy Baseball Yearbook 1977
• Street & Smith’s Baseball Yearbook 1977
• Baseball Digest – April 1977
• Young Athlete – April 1977
• Rolling Stone – May 5, 1977
• Sports Illustrated – June 6, 1977 (with Big Bird from Sesame Street)
• Dynamite Magazine – July 1977
• SPORT Magazine – July 1977
• Sports Illustrated – April 24, 1978

Most of these should be found for about $3-$5, with the Rolling Stone at about $8-$10 and the two ‘77 Yearbooks at about $10-$14.  The Times Magazine was an item I saw on eBay which I’m betting is probably the toughest of the bunch to lay hands on.

Meteoric will surely be the term you most hear describing Fidrych’s career, and the the number of magazine covers he graced over a short period attest well to that.

Rest in Peace, Mark Fidrych.